Change how one person's name shows in Google

3 steps 2 min Updated 4 November 2026

Google display name on a user's Details tab changes how this one person's name appears in Gmail, Classroom, Chat and the other Google apps, without changing your school-wide Display name setting.

Before you start

The field is only shown when your school syncs to Google.
You need the same access as for the rest of the edit page: an admin for the user's school, with that school selected (see Edit a user).

Steps

Step 1: Open the user's Details tab

Find the person on the Users page and select their name (see Edit a user). The edit page opens on the Details tab.

Step 2: Choose a display name

Open Google display name. Each option in the list shows the name it would give this person:

Option	Example
Title, initial and surname	Mr J Smith
Title, first name and surname	Mr John Smith
Title and surname	Mr Smith
First name and surname	John Smith
Initial and surname	J Smith
"Student", first name and surname	Student John Smith
First name only	John
Surname only	Smith

The title options are for staff only, and the "Student" option is for students only. If someone has no title, the title options use their first name instead. Pick School default to go back to the school setting.

Step 3: Save changes

Select Save changes. Saving pushes the change to Google straight away, or at the next sync at the latest (while cloud sync is paused, it waits for the pause to end — see Cloud sync is paused). Going back to School default removes the display name Realsmart set in Google.

Good to know

The name is built from their current details every sync, so it follows a name change from your MIS.
If you change someone's role to one their choice doesn't suit, it goes back to School default.
Their first and last name in Google stay as your school setting has them, so the Google Admin directory and search are unaffected.

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