Preferred or Chosen Name
Students, staff, and faculty at Purdue may use their chosen (preferred) names on campus regardless of whether they match their legal name. If you need to adjust your name on your educational record, please learn more about personal directory information.
Read below to learn how to add a chosen name to popular Purdue systems.
Note: due to interoperability issues between systems, adding a chosen name to one system may not automatically update the chosen name field in another system.
For assistance with additional Purdue systems, please send an email to it@purdue.edu.
MyPurdue
Students can add their chosen name via the myPurdue portal. See Instructions for Adding Chosen Name to MyPurdue.
It may take up to three business days for the update to appear. After updating your preferred name in MyPurdue, you have the option to have your preferred name displayed on the front of your Purdue ID Card. To do this, take your current Purdue ID card to the Purdue ID Card Office and trade it in for a new ID with your preferred name. There will be a $25 replacement fee charged through card services.
Additionally, updating your name in myPurdue will also update it in Brightspace rosters.
BoilerLink
Follow these steps to change your BoilerLink chosen name:
- Log in to www.boilerlink.purdue.edu
- Go to the user name displayed in the top left-hand corner and click on the arrow pointing down, which is located next to the display name
- Click on "Profile" under the “Profile” heading
- Change “First Name” field
- Scroll to the bottom of the page and click “Update”
- The student should now see a green bar at the top that says “Account information updated” and the name displayed in the top left-hand corner should reflect the name change
Microsoft OfficeSuite
- Click the “O365 Display Name Change Request” link
- On the resulting page, look at the right-hand side for a “Request to Change Office 365 Display Name” button. Click the button to open the form to change your display name in Microsoft Office 365 (including Outlook).
Purdue Electronic Directory
Log in to the Purdue Electronic Directory by clicking the small icon that looks like an ID card above the "Search" field (alternate text will display "Update My Directory Listing" when you place your cursor over the icon). Once you log in, click on "Nickname" in the table of options. Enter your chosen name (first name and last name), then click "OK." No documentation is required to update your nickname in the Purdue system.
