Name guidelines for users & groups

When adding usernames, display names, group names, and group descriptions to a managed Google Account, such as Google Workspace or Cloud Identity, use the guidelines on this page.

Username guidelines

Usernames refer to a user's primary email address or email alias.

  • Can contain letters (a–z), numbers (0–9), dashes (-), underscores (_), apostrophes ('), and periods (.). Accents and other symbols are also allowed (details later on this page).
  • Can be up to 64 characters.
  • Must be lowercase. If you enter uppercase letters when creating a username, they're converted to lowercase letters.
  • Can begin or end with non-alphanumeric characters except periods (.).
  • Can't contain more than one period (.) in a row.
  • Can't contain more than one accent, accented letter, ampersand (&), equal sign (=), angle bracket (<) (>), plus sign (+), comma (,), or exclamation point (!).
  • Minimize the use of symbols, such as percent (%) or caret (^). Symbols can cause issues with third-party apps that sync with Google Workspace, such as older LDAP systems or certain CRM applications, which might have stricter validation rules.
  • Periods (.) are not ignored in usernames the way they are in gmail.com accounts. If you create a username called username, this user will not be able to receive messages addressed to user.name, us.er.na.me, or any other combination of periods. To let a user receive mail with these variations, create an email alias for them.
  • Because abuse and postmaster are reserved words, you can't use them as usernames or aliases. Learn more about reserved words.

Display name guidelines

Display names (first name, last name) are used to display a user's name in their managed Google Account to other users, such as in Google Chat.

  • Use UTF-8 unicode characters.
  • Can be up to 60 characters.
  • Can't contain an angle bracket (<) (>).

Group name & description guidelines

  • Use names that make it easy to identify the group's purpose.
  • Can be up to 73 characters.
  • Use no more than 64 characters before the at sign (@) in a group email address.
  • For groups created in the Google Admin console, do not use an equal sign (=), angle bracket (<) (>), or ampersand (&).

Creating strong passwords