Andy Warhol famously predicted that in the future, everybody would have fifteen minutes of fame. Well, that time has come, and YouTube is a large part of what has put it here. Whereas home video cameras went a long way to lowering the bar to filmmaking, the big problem was always one of distribution: once you’ve made a video, how do you get it out where it can be seen? The answer (which was a long time coming) is YouTube.
YouTube is the great democratizer in entertainment. You don’t have to please some executive somewhere in order to get a platform for you videos, all you need is an account. And while some YouTube stars are a bit flash in the pan, or are more famous for being laughed at than for anything they did (like that poor “Leave Britney alone” guy), in some cases, YouTube has helped launch actual careers. Just look at John Roberts, the voice actor who portrayed Linda Belcher on Bob’s Burgers: he got his start when the producers saw a series of videos he did in which he impersonated his mother.
So all you need to get started is a YouTube account, and you can set up your own channel in no time. However, the name of your channel, and the username you select, should not be overlooked. This will really determine how a lot of people view you (not your videos), so you need to make sure that the names you have chosen are consistent with the sort of experience your videos provide.
In this article I’ll outline the very best YouTube name generator sites that can help you decide on your new channel or user name without having to think of something out of thin air.
It can be tough starting from scratch with no idea what words you should start with. Oh, sure, if you’re using YouTube primarily for professional reasons (which is to say, you’re providing a YouTube outlet for the company or university you work for), then you probably want to go safe, with something wholly derived from your name or your company’s name. But if this endeavor is entirely your own, you have a great deal more freedom. And these freedoms bring with them headaches. You have a general idea that you’d like to use your name, birthdate, favorite sports team, an adjective that describes you, etc. But it can be difficult finding the right combination.
That’s where I come in, I’ll provide your very best options below and walk you through tips and tricks to get the best channel name or username possible. It becomes second nature after you’ve done it a few times and you’ll thank me for it after you come up with the absolute best name possible.
“Digital technology is both arousing and distancing. We don’t look at the users on the other side as people. They aren’t – they’re just usernames, Facebook photos and Twitter handles.” – Douglas Rushkoff, Social Media Writer
What is a Name Generator?
Have you heard of a random number generator before? You may have used the random number function in excel or seen a reference to random numbers in articles. Random number generators even perform a lot of the heavy lifting in some of your favorite games. And not just games: If you’ve ever pressed shuffle on your iPhone, Android, etc. then you’ve used a random number generator to help you get a random selection of songs.
Now, computer science isn’t my primary strength (I know just enough to get into trouble), but something you may come across is the notion that computers can never truly be random. Being entirely things of logic, all of their results must come from pre-scripted formulae. However, these formulae can be so complex — complex beyond the human ability to fathom — to the point that they create the appearance of randomness, which is to say, they’re random enough for our needs.
There are several ways to derive random numbers and one of the more common and easy to use methods is by using the infinitely long string of numbers in Pi (3.14159265…). Since the numbers in Pi are infinitely long but are not random (as best as we can tell), most software uses a seed to tell the software where it should start in the Pi sequence or another sequence of pseudo random numbers. For instance, if your seed number is 12345, the software will start on the 12345th number in the string of Pi numbers and begin to use the following numbers as the sample of random numbers.
You may be asking yourself why this all matters and where I’m going with all of this. The basis is because the YouTube name generators below use a string of pseudo random numbers to determine what words and order it should use to spit out a suggestion for a random name.
This all means that despite the illusion of randomness there are rules to the username you’ll see in the results. Typically, you’ll enter in a few key words like a noun, a few adjectives or verbs, a number, and a hobby or favorite team. At that point the random name generator will spit out a randomized username that takes some combination of the input and provides it as a possible channel name or username.
Now that you know a little bit more about how the random name generator works you can have a better idea of how to utilize it to your preference and figure out the best way to get the very best channel name.
Best YouTube Name Generator
There are a few options you have if you’re looking for good username generators and are willing to try a few different variations until you get a YouTube name you really like. It’s important to try several different options and variations as I’m sure you won’t find the best name right from the start.
Jimpix
Jimpix is my favorite username generator because of it’s flexibility, creativeness, and high likelihood of recommending great names to use. You will find that Jimpix has a lot of different options to choose from to make the username that fits best with your personality and what you want to use YouTube for.
Username Generator
You can use the username generator to enter in a word, like your name, birthdate, favorite pet name, etc. Then you can choose from a category of adjectives, brands, countries, food, nouns, emoticons, jobs, verbs, sports, body traits, funny words, random words, insults, jobs, creatures, etc. From this list Jimpix will take a present list of words and combine them with the word you entered in. For example, I used the keyword “YouTube Name” as the starter and made the category as adjective. From there, Jimpix spit out this list of username options:
remorseful YouTube Name
unsung YouTube Name
acceptable YouTube Name
YouTube Name secretive
foamy YouTube Name
colossal YouTube Name
innate YouTube Name
YouTube Name upright
showy YouTube Name
muffled YouTube Name
feigned YouTube Name
YouTube Name lavish
daily YouTube Name
YouTube Name fragile
YouTube Name noted
shoddy YouTube Name
YouTube Name righteous
illogical YouTube Name
YouTube Name impatient
bossy YouTube Name
YouTube Name easy
longing YouTube Name
sorrowful YouTube Name
lyrical YouTube Name
knowing YouTube Name
This is an example you can use for a username. Keep in mind that you can dictate the username to be all one word, the length of the username. You can even dictate whether you want to start with your keyword or start with the category and which letter your username should start with.
Jimpix Random Username Generator
There is a different generator that will allow you to simply tell Jimpix of two different categories and the site will jumble and mix the two categories to create totally random options. These are often times very random and sometimes don’t make sense.
It’s best to try these out and regenerate them multiple times so that you can be sure to get a good combination. You can also dictate if you want the username to start with a certain letter from A to Z.
Spinxo
Spinxo is one of the best name generators out there as well. I’ve had a lot of fun trying out the different and many options for YouTube names. As you can see below you have the option to enter in criteria for the following: Name, What are you like, Hobbies, Thinks you like, Important words, and Numbers. All of these will be jumbled together to create a unique and hopefully available YouTube channel name for you to use.
Below the option to create a username you can check the availability of any username so that you can check it right then and there to see if it will work. It’s a terrible feeling when you finally decide on an option only to find that its been taken by someone else.
Try a bunch of different variations to make sure you get a good variation that you like. For example, you could use your favorite number, and then switch it to your birthdate as another option. This will give you a few different choices and let you get the full range of usernames.
Now that we’ve gone through some of the best options out there for YouTube names, let’s make sure you’re within the Google guidelines for names.
YouTube Username Guidelines
It is all good to come up with a great name but it must adhere to the guidelines that are set forth by Google. The rules for creating a username requires you to have letters from a through z, numbers from 0 through 9, dashes (-), underscores (_), apostrophes (‘) and periods (.). This should give you enough control to come up with a great YouTube channel name.
Keep in mind that you cannot use the equal sign, the greater or less than brackets, plus sign, or more than one period in a row in any username. You also must keep your username below the maximum of 60 characters. It’s also important to note that despite periods being ignored in emails, they are not ignored in YouTube names. Therefore, the username AwesomeAbe is not the same as Awesome.Abe.
There are millions of YouTube accounts, which means that there is a decent likelihood if you have a common name that your first choice in username may be taken already. Don’t worry, just make sure you have a backup option and that you can create something that is a bit more unique. Try adding in your birthday, your favorite number, your middle name, or the name of a childhood pet. These will make the name a bit more unique and get a better chance of being available.
Change Your YouTube Channel Name
Every once in a while you may find it’s necessary to change your channel name to something a bit more appropriate. For instance, if you started a business and now want your business name instead of your personal name. Or if you got married or divorced you may want to change the name just to reflect your new real name.
These are all valid reasons to change your YouTube Channel name and luckily, it’s fairly easy to do so on Google. If your YouTube account is connected to a Google+ page or profile you will notice that the name will change for both your Google+ account and your YouTube account.
To change your channel name, just sign into YouTube and from there open the options menu that is three horizontal stacked lines. Click on My Channel from there and you will notice that next to your name there will be a little pencil icon indicating the option to edit. Choose Channel settings and under the Account Information header you want to click on change next to your channel name.
This will give you the option to change your name to something new. However, Google realizes that names don’t change frequently and therefore won’t let you change your name many times in a short period of time. Therefore, make sure you’re serious about the change before making it because you may not be able to change it back unless you wait a couple months.
I hope this guide has been helpful and showed you the many options you have to create your own channel name or user name using a YouTube name generator. Leave a comment below with your favorite generator and make sure you share this post on Facebook and Twitter with all of your friends!