How to Change Your YouTube Channel Name and Create a Custom URL

In this instructable I will show you how to change your YouTube Channel Name and create a custom URL for your channel. There are many reasons why you may want to change your channel name, maybe you created it several years ago, or maybe you are rebranding your channel, whatever the reason, I will show you how to do it. Don't be confused with the Channel name and Username. Your Username can only be changed once. If you already did that, you can't change it again, BUT, don't worry because you can change your Channel Name whenever you want. I will cover all of that here. Let's get started!

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Follow the easy steps below or watch the short video tutorial or do both! :)

First you need to make sure you are logged on to your channel that you want to change, in this case I decided I wanted to rebrand my Matt Taylor channel. Then click on Creator Studio. You can click on the blue "Creator Studio" button or click on your icon in the top right corner which will have a drop down, and you can reach the "Creator Studio" page that way.

Next navigate on the left hand site until you reach the Channel Tab. Click on that to reveal a drop down menu of options. Then click on "Advanced."

Once you are in the advanced section, you will find an option where you can "change" your icon or change your name. Click on "change".

Now we can change our channel name here. Note: This will change it across google, not just the YouTube Channel name. You may or may not have a First and Last name option. Sometimes it just has the space for "Name". In this case I put everything into the first name section. Once you have the new channel name you want click on "ok". Then click on "change name."

You may need to refresh your browser for the name change to take effect. Now you can see my channel name has changed. Congratulations! Now let's move on to creating a custom URL with our new channel name.

Now navigate back to the Creator Studio area by clicking on "Creator Studio" like we did before. Next click on the left hand side "Channel." In the far right corner you will find the "Custom URL" box. Here we can enable the custom URL by clicking on "here." Where it asks you to claim the custom URL.

This will bring you to the channel setting section where you can click "here" to claim your custom URL.

Now once here you will have a few options generated for you. The top choice works great for me. Make sure your choice is selected, then click the "check box" indicating that you agree, then click on the blue button "Change URL." After that it will bring up a new window asking if you to confirm the URL change. Click on "Confirm Choice."

There you go that was simple wasn't it? Notice that the URL says what it is supposed to. Also you can even remove the slash and "c" to make it bit nicer and it will still work.

Now you know how to change your YouTube Channel Name and create a custom URL for your channel. :)

Now watch those steps in action by checking out the video tutorial. :)