Wish you wouldn’t see a mere email address for some senders’ emails? Want to change the name that lets you find a recipient? Find out here how to change the name associated with an email address in Apple Mail on a Mac.
First, Snug Under a Moonlit Blanket
How snug? That, of course, depends on the moonlight.
For the earth’s companion not only reflects the sun’s light, it also absorbs and emits heat radiation. So, a full moon’s night is warmer than one under a new moon.
The difference seems to be everybody’s educated guess somewhere between “hard to measure” and “imperceptible”.
Now that you associate the full moon with warmth, back in Mail on a Mac (and, if you will, back under that snug and moonlight blanket), you can make noticeable changes to the names you see for email addresses:
How to Change the Name Associated with an Email Address in Mac Mail
Time needed: 3 minutes
To change the name macOS Mail on a Mac uses for an email address (when you receive email from them or compose a message to them):
- Open Contacts on the Mac.
Here’s how: You can use Launchpad, of course, to open Contacts, or press Command Space for Spotlight, then type
contactsto find the app.
Here’s why: Apple Mail uses the name saved in Contacts for an address, so why not start there?
From Mail: You can also start in Mail, of course, and click a sender or recipient in an email, then select Show Contact Card from the menu; if an address is not yet in Contacts, choose Add to Contacts first. - Click in Contacts’ Search field.
Contacts keyboard shortcut: Press Command F to focus the searching field.
- Type the email address whose associated name you want to change.
Copying: You can copy the email address from an email in Mail, of course, and paste it in the Search field.
- Click Edit for the contact saved for the email address.
More than one entry: If the email address appears in an Email field for more than one contact, Mail will typically use the entry that has been updated most recently; it is best to have each address only present in one contact, though.
No entry: If the email address is not associated with any contact, try searching for the contact by name and add the address to an Email field or select File | New Card from the menu to create a new Contacts entry for it. - Use the First and Last fields or Company to change the name associated with the email address for display in Mail.
Additional fields: Click ＋ and select the desired field (e.g., Nickname or Middle Name) under Add Field to Card; see below for how Mail uses additional fields.
- Click Done.
The name associated with your email address: How to Change the Email Sender Name in Mac Mail
How to Change the Name Associated with an Email Address in Mac Mail: FAQ
The email address is also with a name in the “Previous Recipients” list; do I need to change that, too?
No.
The name associated with an email address in Contacts overrides any name saved to the Apple Mail Previous Recipients list.
Which name will Mail prefer?
Apple Mail will use the first, middle and last name before anything else, either together or on their own. Then comes a nickname, and finally the company name. If no name is associated with an email address, Mail will pick up the name in the email‘s From: header line and otherwise show the email address alone.
The associated name Christmas tree looks like this:
First
Middle
Last
⇓
Nickname
⇓
Company
⇓
From: name
⇓
From: email address
(How to change the name associated with an email address tested with Apple Mail for Mac 16.0; updated January 2024)