How to Change the Computer Name on Your Mac

When you connect your Mac on a local network, it is identified by a unique name. For example, you can setup a local network at your home comprising of many different devices and each of them have a name and ID. In the case of Windows 10 PC, the name is something like Desktop-DG7C9IN where the last seven characters are selected at random during the installation of the operating system.

In case of Mac, things are much simpler and the computer’s name is automatically set to be the user’s computer where user is the username of the Mac user. This username was set when you first started your Mac and created a user account. If you don’t want to reveal your username to anyone on the network or if you want to pick a more interesting computer name for your Mac then, you can easily change it.

Here is how you can change the computer name on Mac:

1. Click on the Apple logo icon near the top-left corner to open the Apple menu.
2. From the Apple menu, select System Preferences.
3. When System Preferences opens up, click on Sharing.
4. Unlock the preferences if they are locked which involves clicking on the small lock and entering your credentials. Without unlocking, any changes made to the preferences are not saved. After you have unlocked it, the lock icon changes and becomes “unlocked”.
5. You should be able to see your current computer name on the top. Click on the Edit button next to the computer’s name.
6. Type in the new computer name in the text field and then click on OK.

You can change your computer name for Mac as many times as you want. When you change the name, your new name might take some time for the remote computers to connect. Typically, it takes a re-connection attempt to see the new changes on a network.