If you have tried to change the name of your Facebook page and it was denied there are a few ways you can successfully change the name.
Now that you have gone though the time and expense to build a following on Facebook you don’t want to lose them just because you have changed the name of your business.
Appeal Page Name Change Request
The simplest thing to do is to request an appeal. However, often this will NOT work. The reviewing team will likely request you provide them with support documentation which proves you have changed the name of your business. Whether you have a registered business or not you may just want to change your Facebook Page name for SEO or other reasons. In this case your registered business name won’t match the Facebook page name you want.
The result will be “we were unable to approve your request to change your page name”
100% Fail Proof Name Change
This is a step method and may take a week to do, but it works. For this example let’s assume you have an electrical company and want to expand into a full service construction company.
Your old company name was “Fred’s Electrical” and the new company name is “Fred & Betty’s Construction”. For SEO purposes you want to name your Facebook page “Hartford New Home Construction”. This name change would likely be disapproved. Even on an appeal with proof of business – your business name won’t match your Facebook page name.
Grey Hat Facebook Name Change Appeal Process
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Day 1: Change the name from “Fred’s Electrical” to “Fred’s Electrical Hartford“
Day 2: Change the name from “Fred’s Electrical Hartford” to “Fred’s Home Electrical Hartford”
Day 3: Change the name from “Fred’s Home Electrical Hartford” to “New Home Electrical Hartford”
Day 4: Change the name from “New Home Electrical Hartford” to “New Home Electrical Construction Hartford”
Day 5: Change the name from “New Home Electrical Construction Hartford” to “New Home Construction Hartford”
Day 6: Change the name from “New Home Construction Hartford” to “Hartford New Home Construction”
You can try to do it faster and change more words if you’d like but the chances of being rejected are greater.
This is awesome, thanks! Does this still work in 2018?
Hi James,
I just used this in January and haven’t heard from anyone saying it doesn’t work anymore. Just be patient with it and change one word at a time.
Please come back and let me know how you made out!
Good luck! š
I just found this article after already submitting a change. They denied it. Now i want to use this method. Do I just wait or appeal?
Hi Sarah, I don’t know what you mean by wait? Did they tell you to wait for something specific?
I tried changing my name before I saw this advice and it wasnt allowed by fb. Now when I try to change the name I get the error:
“Page name change requested recently. A request to change the name of this Page was made recently. You’re unable to make additional requests at this time”
How long will I have to wait to try to change the name again?ļ»æ
It depends but it can be 24 hours or 3 or more days.
Worked for me, August-September 2018
I have heard before that it was difficult to change a page name more than once, so I have been hesitant to do so. Is that not the case?
Hi Megan,
I can’t say for sure what they will do but I think the worse that can happen is they say no. They denied my request a few times before I did what I described above. Let me know how you make out!
Hi Cynthia,
If I want to change a single word name to a single word name, what can I do?
Because I appeal several times but still get rejected.
Hi Alves,
Maybe try adding a word or two. For example if the name of the FB page is “Twilight” and you want to change it to “Conditioner” try this:
Day 1: Twilight + Cold Air
Day 2 (after approved): Twilight Cold Air + Conditioner
Day 3: remove Twilight = Cold Air Conditioner
Day 4: remove Cold Air.
Let me know how it goes š
Thank you for this work around. I was just stumped as to what to do.
Michael
Hi Cynthia.
My facebook page name is “Magical Messi” but i want to change it to “Barcelona Barca” and i am getting rejected evevery time i try it.
Can you show me how to do it?
Hi Arlind,
Did you try all the steps above? Please walk me through what you have already done and what the reason for rejection was.
Change it to “Magical Barca”. Wait one week. Change it from “Magical Barca” to “Barcelona Barca”
You will need to verify that the names aren’t already taken.
This really great! Thanks… I just got denied. Question, how long do you have to wait to try this after they deny you? I’ve read 7 days and I’ve read 12 hours. Your website looks great. I’m going to check it out to see what you offer. We are rebranding so there is much work to do!
Hi Kim – it seems to vary for time. I have had it 3 days or a few hours.
Glad you like the website – if you need anything just ask š
I really love what you said. I thought about it but was scared of its consequences and time it will consume.
My page’s name was soccertalkz then after I bought a domain, I easily changed it to soccertalkz.com and before that, I had tried to change it to soccertalkz manchester united fans but was rejected, maybe so many words added.
Now i have changed the domain name to manutdtimes and I tried to change the whole page name to manutdtimes but was constantly rejected.
After reading this from you, I figured out how I may get it changed. The first name of the page was ‘soccertalkz’ then maybe I will change the current name (soccertalkz.com) to ‘soccertalkz’ and after a couple of days, I will add soccertalkz “mantd’, if it gets approved.
The next day or two, I will add soccertalkz times manutd and if it gets approved and will wait about three days or so then changed it to “manutd soccertalkz times’ and after the approval and will make the second-to-last change to be “manutd times” and if that gets approved, I will rest it as “manutdtimes” by removing the space between them.
Thanks for this idea of yours! Hope it should be as easy as you have explained.
Hi Cynthia
It is a good article
I have single word Page name
“Bpositive ” needs to be changed to It is Positive
On Day 1
I Should try ItisBpositive..? Or BpositiveItis or Itis Bpositive..?
Hello Hemanth – I would try something like we did here
Did you want to have the final word to be “ItIsPositive” or “It is Positive”?
Hi I want it to be changed to
“It is Positive”
Thanks a lot I tried this as per example
My final goal is “”It is Positive””
Today Day 1:-
I tried this
1.) “Bpositive” updated to “Bpositive It is” It is APPROVED HAPPY.
Day 2:-
1.) Shall I try this to change like this..? Which way I should follow
“BPositive It is Positive” OR
“It is Positive”
I can’t guarantee what they will do but I would try doing it in the correct order. “It is Positive”
Hi cynthia I like your advice. I was wondering how i could change a band page name from 95degreez to d’zorden. I got denied and I Apealed the request. But it denied the appeal.
Your help be appreciated we have our first concert show announcement coming up soon and it will confuse everyone. Since we decided a name change was needed.
Hi Vianey. I would start with keeping the name you have and just adding the new name for step one.
Then, just remove the first name. So it would look like this:
Request 1: 95degreez d’zorden
Request 2: d’zorden
Let us know how you make out.
hi can you please help, i too have been denied a name change when rebranding from Maison Royale to Ppaer Cat Gifts, could you give me some suggestions of the steps i need to take to change it, thank you
Hi Angela,
Have you tried any of the steps outlined above yet?
I think I would start by adding the word “Gifts” first and next add “Cat”, then “Paper”
Then you will have “Maison Royale Paper Cat Gifts”
Then remove “Maison” and finally “Royal”
Let us know how you make out!
Starting the process out myself. Moving from SkatesEmporium.com to RollerSkateDad.com:
1.) “SkatesEmporium.com” to “Skates Emporium”
2.) “Skates Emporium” to “Roller Skates Emporium”
3.) “Roller Skates Emporium” to “Roller Skate Dad”
Hoping 3 steps will work.
I got my handle changed in 1 step, which seems funny to me that you can easily change that and the URL but not the page name.
Thank you for such great advice. I’ll comment back here again in a few days.
Hello Jeff – Good luck.
If the final one isn’t approved you might need an additional step of adding “Dad” before removing “Emporium.”
I look forward to the results.
Hi Cynthia – Thank you so much for this tip. Today, I was finally able to do the last step. I did step 1 above on day 1. On day 2, I did step 2. Then, on day 3, I tried to do #3, but Facebook told me I had changed my name too many times and would have to wait 1 week. So, I waited until this morning (1 week), and it worked!
So, a bit of a snag doing the last change, but it worked pretty well. You just have to be patient. š
Thanks again, Cynthia.
Hi Cynthia this is such great advice Iām trying to change. āHealing Sessions for mumsā to āNurturing your Mother Nature with Daniella I thought Iād start by adding with Daniella Ruru then Iām a bit lost – I donāt want to get stuck halfway with something that makes no sense. Thank you so much for your advice very much appreciated
Hi Daniella,
Maybe try adding “Nurturing” to the front “Healing Sessions for mums” first application or second.
Let us know how it goes š
Can the page be unpublished when we do this? So that every one who follows our page isn’t seeing the multiple different names changes every week to get the end result? Or will it only work if the page is published? I just sent in my appeal.. how long does it take to hear back?!
Hello Vanessa – The time for approval varies from 24 hours to a few days. I don’t know about being able to unpublish while updating. Please let us know what you find out.
Hello, Iām trying to change my page name from āPride Wellnessā to āThe Wellness Coachā. It got denied unfortunately. When I go to try again, the page wonāt open. It says āthe page you have requested canāt be displayed atm … ā.
Any ideas where I go from here? :/
Many thanks.
That’s a good question Caerey. I think FB will probably be the best ones to help you out with that.
I am so glad I found this article. I am trying to change my name from Willow Trading Company to Amy’s Vintage Market, can you help how to change it? I was rejected and tried to appeal but from what I’ve read I don’t think my appeal will go through.
Hello Amy. It looks like it might take a few days but be patient. Try following these directions.
I just tried this method and it worked! I wanted to change my page from Granbury Paranormal Expo to Spooky Spectacle, and of course it was turned down. I put in an appeal, but held out no hope that anyone was actually going to respond to me. I was really annoyed, everything else, from Twitter to Facebook, was able to be changed, but not the Facebook page name itself! So I found this blog and tried it. The first day I changed to Spooky Paranormal Expo, then Spooky Paranormal Spectacle, and now I just took out the Paranormal and it worked! Thank you so much for posting this trick!
That’s great news Brandy! Thank you for coming back and reporting your success. š
Thank you for this!
In my case, I do not want to completely change the name of my page. I just want to remove the last part of it, but Facebook will not allow me.
Example: change “AAA BBB CCC DDD” to “AAA BBB”.
How should I proceed?
Hi Robert. It is difficult to comment without knowing what you have actually done. Did you remove one word at a time? As far as I know following this procedure has been successful for people.
Hi Cynthia,
I’ve been able to make 2 changes with 2 words over 2 days but it hasn’t allowed me to continue after that…using your procedure. Is this common?
Thank you
Sara
Hi Sara – How long have you waited this time?
Hi Cynthia, It’s now been 3 days…
3 days is not uncommon. It is a weekend so I wouldn’t be too concerned until Wednesday. Sometimes it makes a difference what day and what time of day you put in the request. What is the message are you getting?
Ok, I will wait a few more days. The message is –
Your Page name can’t be changed.
You can update your Page category and add other info to describe your Page so it is easier for people to find it. Learn more…
Thank you Cynthia
Sarah – have you had any luck changing your page name yet? I am getting the same message and it’s been 6 days.
Facebook mentions that it will notify people who like your page of the name changes, which seems like it would be very annoying to those folks –
Did you notice a dropoff in likes or follows of the pages you changed?
Thanks,
-Connor
Hi Connor – I didn’t notice any drop. One thing you can do is pin a notice or image to the top of your page that explains the rebrand.
If people are truly a good follower they won’t be annoyed.
I’ve been trying different methods of this for almost a week, but all my requests are getting denied within seconds. I sent in an appeal and Facebook asked me to make a post on my page announcing the change and link it back to them which I’ve done but they’ve just asked me to do it again! It’s very infuriating as other sites have allowed me to change my name without issue. My page isn’t even big, it only has 65 likes and isn’t even labelled as a business – but a “Just for Fun” page.
Would you have any tips? The page’s current name is “Re:Ganma_02” and I’m looking to change it to “Crazy Robo”…. I have a feeling the algorithm may be picking up the word “Crazy” but there are other FB pages that use this word so…
Hi Phi.
Did you try this procedure? If so in what order?
I’ve tried both Re:Ganma_02 Robo and Crazy Ganma_02 along with just jumping the gun and throwing the whole name on there. Nothing has worked. They were all denied not even seconds after I press submit, but I was always able to try again after just over 24 hrs. Facebook does mention about excessive punctuation so perhaps I need to try waiting a bit longer and also getting rid of the punctuation completely too?
Hi Phi – If you have tried everything as suggested and that didn’t work there may be other issues. I suggest trying one more with “Robo Ganma_02” and see if that is accepted. Otherwise, since you only have 65 likes it might be worth just making a new page with the new name.
Great article!! I tried a similar method but am now stuck! I rebranded from Creative Boss Life to Lauren Dragon-Cook but am now stuck at Creative Lauren Dragon-Cook and getting shot down every time. Iām considering creating a second page and then merging the two unless you may be able to share any insight!
Hello Lauren,
How many days are you waiting?
Sometimes if you wait a few days and choose a different time of day to make the request you will get different results. This is assuming you aren’t getting automatic replies.
Maybe try waiting a week before trying again. Please let us know how you made out š