Note: This information is now outdated with the introduction of the new Xbox 360 dashboard UI also known as NXE. Please follow the official guide on the Xbox support site [Link].
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According to my incoming search results there are many people getting to this blog unclear on how to change their Gamertag and even more unsure on what name to choose. I can definitely relate to the latter, ‘Fear the CAT‘ was not my original choice, but sadly ‘carocat’ and other forms of ‘Cat’ were taken. And I never quite fancied the ‘xxxCatxxx’ approach. After all it’s about originality and names like ‘XIo SnIPer oIX’ are hardly original!
Which reminds me, if the [apparently] South Korean person with the Gamertag ‘carocat‘ comes across this post and wants to change it to something else, feel free to contact me. :)
Before you change your name you obviously need to know what you want to change it to and this is a feature I miss from the original Xbox which had a Gamertag generator during the account creation in case all the names you wanted to choose were already taken. To this date I know of several people who created their account with that generator and most of them have pretty good names. Alas, it’s no longer there, so in case you’re unsure, there’s always online name generators for all sorts of things you can have a look at for some inspiration.
Just make sure you remember that Xbox Live accounts can only have a maximum of 15 characters including spaces, have to to start with a letter and cannot contain any special characters or symbols.
- Bandnamemaker.com
- Fantasy Name Generator
- BurnoutAholics Generator [I thought this one was pretty awesome]
And, to make sure the name you want isn’t taken already, search the MyGamercard.net Leaderboards.
Now I’ve never thought changing the Gamertag is such a difficult thing to do, but with each new update I’m finding it more and more difficult navigating the Dashboard and I’ve spent a lot of time looking for things in the wrong places and I’ve been using a 360 since release. It’s not actually difficult, but may this will help you:
- Switch on your Xbox360 and sign into the profile of the account that you want to change the name to.
- Select your Gamercard –> Edit Profile –> Gamertag.
- Select Continue.
- Type in the Gamertag you want to change it to. Remember, check for any mistakes as you would have to spend another 800 points if you notice them after you’ve changed it.
- Accept it.
- Pay the 800 points [at this point you can also press X to add more points if you don't have enough].
Voila, you have a new Gamertag.
Hope this works for you, any questions, you’re more than welcome to contact me.
And yes, you will keep all your friends and your Gamerscore. And you won’t need to update any other settings.
Cat


21 Comments
I still find it hard to work out the controls on a Saga Megadrive! LOL.
Well, I’ve never played on one, so I guess I can understand it! Thanks for stopping by!
Saw this on the frontpage of WP.com. All of my friends are on the front page…such famous people. :P
Really? I made it on the frontpage? This post hasn’t even got many hits…
yeah! none of my front page posts receive many hits either. Anyway, it’s good to see it on the frontpage. ;)
Yeah, always! Just had a look, couldn’t see it though. Which section was it in?
Cat: it was in the HOWTO section.
I just saw it. Yey. May it bring many new readers to my blog. :)
I got my name from the random generator, it looked so stupid it had to be chosen!
Believeddog? Which generator did you get that from. It;s quite awesome. :)
im certainly sure that if people complain about your name you have to change it
a.k.a free name
It was the Xbox Live generator.
why do you have to pay so much to change your gamertag? its like having to pay to change game or paying to look at hows online on Msn messenger!? surely to have a name is your personal identity and as such you should be able to change it at will.
Just get people to file a complaint against your name lol
Get enough people and you have to change it anyway..
I’m sure the reason that they charge so much (in MS points) to change your gamer name is to prevent people from changing them every 5 minutes. Also to prevent people from breaking the rules and then quickly changing their name to avoid punishment.
hi my name is bob and my middle name is the and my last name is builder. So I need help swithing my gamertag I just started playing halo3 and I am already beaten the game on legendary. Is that good i got it like 3 days ago my friend told me it was hard but it seemed preaty easy! And it is had to get him through the game because he keeps dieing!
it is hard to get him through it not had
helo is anyone here?
hey this bob the builder guy seemes preaty tough wat is you halo3 game name?
myhalo3 game name is bobthebuilderthe2
hi hi hi hi hi hi hi hi hi hi hi hi hi hi hi hi hi hi hi hi hi hi hi hi hi hi hi hi hi hi hi hi hi hi
$10? Lol, not worth it
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Thanks. I gave a link of this letter in my blog.
[...] escape me! [Gamertag change] Last year I wrote a post on how to change your Xbox Live Gamertag after many people came to my blog searching for [...]