Zoom Meeting Participants Can Now Change Display Name

University of Arkansas

Renaming does not change the email address or the user's account information.

As part of an ongoing commitment to diversity and inclusion, IT Services has enabled the "Allow participants to rename themselves" option in Zoom. When a meeting host selects the "Rename participants" feature, participants can edit their display names.

This feature allows users to update their name and add personal pronouns for the current meeting only. Display names will need to be reset on a per-meeting basis. Due to administrative security settings, the name on your Zoom profile cannot be changed.

This setting must be enabled by the host before participants can edit their names. To enable the "Rename participants" option during a Zoom meeting, hosts can click on the Security icon in the Zoom toolbar. 

To set this feature as a default for all meetings, hosts can:

1. Open the Zoom app and click the Settings gear icon.
2. Click View More Settings. Your web browser will open the Zoom settings page.
3. On the left, select "In Meeting (Basic)" on the left.
4. Scroll down to "Allow participants to rename themselves" and click to enable the setting.  

Hosts can turn this feature on and off at any time during a meeting.

To change their display names in a meeting, participants can:

1. Click Participants in the Zoom menu. 
2. Click More next to your name. 
3. Click Rename. 

Learn more about Zoom's features on IT Service's Zoom Video Conferencing web page. Contact the IT Help Desk at help.uark.edu or 479-575-HELP with any questions or concerns.