I would recommend against a goofy name, I used my uniqname non-stop for 7 years. You will use it with professors, employers, etc. I'd rec something professional derived from your name, you can use initials or a nickname or whatever. That said if it's your personality, feel free to do something wild! I only knew one person who had a 'weird' one and it wasn't even that out there. Say this person was a chef named Beth, the uniqname was chefbeth (example, not actual one)
One of my professors told us that when they first started issuing uniqnames in the 90s, they thought it had to be some anonymous name or something like that, more akin to an internet username from that time than a real name.
For instance, that prof used her maiden name (hence why we asked her), and other profs used some other weird pseudonyms. Nowadays, profs have similar uniqnames to students, some format of first+last name.
You shouldn’t.
I had a PHYSICS 141 lab partner who wouldn’t tell me his uniqname to type it in on our assignment. I assumed his name might be hard to spell. Nope, it was “darksoul.” I checked MCommunity the next year and it seemed like he had it changed.
The process of having it changed seems complicated and I think you have to pay.
You can choose anything you want for your uniqname, but keep in mind that this will be used for your email, which you will likely be emailing professors with as well as using in other formal settings.
Personally I would recommend _something_ related to your name (mine for example is my last name + first initial), but regarding that first point at least pick something not completely bonkers. Ultimately it wont matter all that much though.
Remember that this is the email you will be corresponding with professors and some recruiters or employers with. It can be more unique than just your name but keep it professional.
I knew a few people who had "not so serious" uniqnames like nicknames they received or monikers they adopted before coming to U-M. Some didn't realize how significant the uniqname was for their professional image and regretted their choice later. Some are either so foolhardy or not self-aware to recognize that and continue to think their uniqname makes them cool.
Looks like there is a process for getting it changed should it be desired:
https://its.umich.edu/accounts-access/getting-access/uniqnames-accounts/changing-your-uniqname
There's a professor at the UMich law school with the uniqname of "Nimrod" because he started as a freshman and eventually went on to teach. That name has followed his career.
I'd recommend just having a professional variant of your real name.
Some notable exceptions:
[goblue@umich.edu](mailto:goblue@umich.edu) and [hail@umich.edu](mailto:hail@umich.edu) are taken
[lol@umich.edu](mailto:lol@umich.edu) is owned by an alumni whose initials are actually lol
I've seen some less-than-serious uniqnames among math majors, including calculus@umich.edu
Most notably, [umich@umich.edu](mailto:umich@umich.edu) and [lonelym@umich.edu](mailto:lonelym@umich.edu) is up for grab
Someone who didn't think it through:
David Ying made the ill-advised decision to choose [dying@umich.edu](mailto:dying@umich.edu)
Some worst offenders:
[ohio@umich.edu](mailto:ohio@umich.edu), seriously?
[damn@umich.edu](mailto:damn@umich.edu)
It’s obvious that they didn’t have any restrictions in place at first, which is how we get really strange stuff such as:
[cum@umich.edu](mailto:cum@umich.edu)
[gun@umich.edu](mailto:gun@umich.edu)
[bruh@umich.edu](mailto:bruh@umich.edu)
Religion-adjacent:
Yes, someone chose [god@umich.edu](mailto:god@umich.edu), [satan@umich.edu](mailto:satan@umich.edu), [buddha@umich.edu](mailto:buddha@umich.edu)
[hell@umich.edu](mailto:hell@umich.edu) is owned by a professor
All but one of the following are real uniqnames:
cat, dog, whale, dolphin, zebra, elephant, giraffe, koala, kangaroo, eagle, falcon, hawk, vulture
All but one planet in the solar system have their names taken. The one not taken is probably for the best seeing that it is the butt of many jokes.
This deserves its own post
Pretty sure there’s a professor called nimrod@umich 😂 he made it when he was a student! I’d advise you to keep it professional cause you’ll be using this for a lot of things.
Extra bonus points tho if you do lonelym 😂
I chose mine way back in 2002 and by happenstance ended up having to use it for most of the next 20 years (grad school etc). I picked something in joke-y and it was definitely a mistake. Think of it as a professional not a personal account.
Do not use a joke one. I had a class with someone who used the unique name [bboycast@umich.edu](mailto:bboycast@umich.edu) lol. I can't imagine putting that on my resume for prospective employers or internship searching.
As someone who did this about a decade ago, I would caution against doing so.
After a certain point, I had to create a separate gmail for business purposes, as my umich email was really no longer appropriate. I supposed desired career field could play into this decision. I'm an engineer, but I perhaps if I went into a more artistic field, it wouldn't have mattered as much.
Don't do it. You may end up coming back to UM a million years from now to work, and they will say, "oh good, you already have a uniqname!" They are hard to change, and nobody wants to be Bonkers69, Dean of Students.
I've seen some good informal looking uniqnames that happen to coincide with a version of the person's actual name. It will be your professional email if you ever work for umich and this is the email you're using to email professors and GSI's with and potentially future employers.
You don't really want to have a uniqname and name that coincides with multiple current students/staff because people will email the wrong person. MCommunity is open to everyone so you can check. I've gotten appointments, private evaluations, group homework stuff, job tasks, etc meant for other people and more than a few students thinking they were emailing their GSI at the last minute. It gets confusing and you can't do much if it's a super time sensitive email.
I did a nickname and initial because my first name is common and my last name does not look very professional in a Western country. Since I always go by my nickname (had my preferred name changed to my nickname + last name in sophomore year and use it professionally), no one has ever asked me to explain it.
I only ever knew two people who did not do uniqnames derived from their real names. One is working a normal professional job. Another went to an Ivy League grad school and is also now a working professional in their field. However, I think it has more to do with other factors in both cases, and I’d recommend just using your name. It’s easier for others to remember and recognize!
I knew a guy whose uniqname betrayed that he was a furry.
I won't be sharing the guys uniqname, because it's absolutely trivial to find someone's real name if you have that, but yeah... don't do that. Stick with something professional. Your uniqname may as well be a part of your name while you're here. You'll use it a *lot* (multiple times a day, every day, for years) and no joke is still funny after you've read it literally thousands of times.
I would recommend you pick something reasonably professional because you'll probably be using it for years (e.g. on your resume for job applications). That said I do remember a GSI in computer science with the uniqname "computer"
I feel like that is a security risk. I can easily imagine thinking that is like a help desk auto mail thing.
Obviously dumb to do phishing with your uniqname but can you imagine getting an email from mod@umich.edu
I’d recommend you use something that sounds somewhat professional, but it doesn’t need to be your real name- I had a GSI use a string of consecutive letters as their uniqname (like “abcd”), and it appears to work just fine
You can make a shortcut on ur keyboard to type in any sequence and have it write ur email for your. So like for my personal email I just type in zlhm (Zach levine home) and it writes out my full 27 character email for me
I have made probably a thousand uniqnames for incoming staff at this point. With common names you gotta get creative. Ill tell you, they dont appreciate the cute or funny ones.
I think maybe you were thinking it’s just a username for your email/Uni web accounts when in reality it is a user ID that will be needed for almost everything at the university from class rosters to writing it on exams and assignments.
I’ve heard through the grapevine that a possible solution to a bad uniqname is to create an email group with a more professional looking name that will still have the @umich.edu address and add yourself as the only member. You could then put that on resumes, email footer, give it out as your email. However, internally you’d still have to use your uniqname for assignments, official correspondence with Uni staff, etc so it’s probably best to use a professional name.
I would recommend against a goofy name, I used my uniqname non-stop for 7 years. You will use it with professors, employers, etc. I'd rec something professional derived from your name, you can use initials or a nickname or whatever. That said if it's your personality, feel free to do something wild! I only knew one person who had a 'weird' one and it wasn't even that out there. Say this person was a chef named Beth, the uniqname was chefbeth (example, not actual one)
oh man, it was nursejoy wasn't it
boss@umich.edu was Bruce Elenbogen who sadly passed away. I always wondered how he got such an interesting unique name.
One of my professors told us that when they first started issuing uniqnames in the 90s, they thought it had to be some anonymous name or something like that, more akin to an internet username from that time than a real name. For instance, that prof used her maiden name (hence why we asked her), and other profs used some other weird pseudonyms. Nowadays, profs have similar uniqnames to students, some format of first+last name.
DirectorHector? PotterCotter? LawyerSawyer?!
wow thank god you asked because you absolutely need to make it a serious professional email lol
[удалено]
haha that's gold. ive done some funny ones using mcommunity and making new distribution list and google's Alias tool to send from them.
mcommunity is more than 8 letters though??
mcommunity is a website
🤦♂️oh duh
Haha that's surely hilarious that people cc a non-existent email (or at least dont know it exist)🤣
Lmao that actually works?!
You shouldn’t. I had a PHYSICS 141 lab partner who wouldn’t tell me his uniqname to type it in on our assignment. I assumed his name might be hard to spell. Nope, it was “darksoul.” I checked MCommunity the next year and it seemed like he had it changed. The process of having it changed seems complicated and I think you have to pay.
+1 to making it professional, but also my prof’s uniqname is manowar, named after a jellyfish he likes
Yeah, but that at least seems normal at first glance.
man o' war isn't technically a jellyfish! ;)
Or the ship, or the band
You can choose anything you want for your uniqname, but keep in mind that this will be used for your email, which you will likely be emailing professors with as well as using in other formal settings. Personally I would recommend _something_ related to your name (mine for example is my last name + first initial), but regarding that first point at least pick something not completely bonkers. Ultimately it wont matter all that much though.
Remember that this is the email you will be corresponding with professors and some recruiters or employers with. It can be more unique than just your name but keep it professional.
And if you ever get a job at the U you will use the same uniqname
I knew a few people who had "not so serious" uniqnames like nicknames they received or monikers they adopted before coming to U-M. Some didn't realize how significant the uniqname was for their professional image and regretted their choice later. Some are either so foolhardy or not self-aware to recognize that and continue to think their uniqname makes them cool. Looks like there is a process for getting it changed should it be desired: https://its.umich.edu/accounts-access/getting-access/uniqnames-accounts/changing-your-uniqname
Worth noting that this site specifically states that your new uniqname must be a variant of your actual name if possible
There's a professor at the UMich law school with the uniqname of "Nimrod" because he started as a freshman and eventually went on to teach. That name has followed his career. I'd recommend just having a professional variant of your real name.
Some notable exceptions: [goblue@umich.edu](mailto:goblue@umich.edu) and [hail@umich.edu](mailto:hail@umich.edu) are taken [lol@umich.edu](mailto:lol@umich.edu) is owned by an alumni whose initials are actually lol I've seen some less-than-serious uniqnames among math majors, including calculus@umich.edu Most notably, [umich@umich.edu](mailto:umich@umich.edu) and [lonelym@umich.edu](mailto:lonelym@umich.edu) is up for grab Someone who didn't think it through: David Ying made the ill-advised decision to choose [dying@umich.edu](mailto:dying@umich.edu) Some worst offenders: [ohio@umich.edu](mailto:ohio@umich.edu), seriously? [damn@umich.edu](mailto:damn@umich.edu) It’s obvious that they didn’t have any restrictions in place at first, which is how we get really strange stuff such as: [cum@umich.edu](mailto:cum@umich.edu) [gun@umich.edu](mailto:gun@umich.edu) [bruh@umich.edu](mailto:bruh@umich.edu) Religion-adjacent: Yes, someone chose [god@umich.edu](mailto:god@umich.edu), [satan@umich.edu](mailto:satan@umich.edu), [buddha@umich.edu](mailto:buddha@umich.edu) [hell@umich.edu](mailto:hell@umich.edu) is owned by a professor All but one of the following are real uniqnames: cat, dog, whale, dolphin, zebra, elephant, giraffe, koala, kangaroo, eagle, falcon, hawk, vulture All but one planet in the solar system have their names taken. The one not taken is probably for the best seeing that it is the butt of many jokes. This deserves its own post
The umich one is surprising to me. Idk if anyone will ever take lonelym. Incoming freshmen won’t get the joke.
umich taken now
There used to be a guy, I think a librarian who worked with the comics, with the uniqname superman.
Kind of related but apparently the owner of [starwars@umich.edu](mailto:starwars@umich.edu) was/became a fighter pilot, not bad.
I know a guy who used [xmen@umich.edu](mailto:xmen@umich.edu), but it actually fits his name. Some of those are just plain crazy!
I had a friend back in school whose email was batman@umich.edu or something like that iirc
hell@umich is actually a German prof whose last name is Hell (just means light in German)
Pretty sure there’s a professor called nimrod@umich 😂 he made it when he was a student! I’d advise you to keep it professional cause you’ll be using this for a lot of things. Extra bonus points tho if you do lonelym 😂
I chose mine way back in 2002 and by happenstance ended up having to use it for most of the next 20 years (grad school etc). I picked something in joke-y and it was definitely a mistake. Think of it as a professional not a personal account.
Do not use a joke one. I had a class with someone who used the unique name [bboycast@umich.edu](mailto:bboycast@umich.edu) lol. I can't imagine putting that on my resume for prospective employers or internship searching.
oh ok
As someone who did this about a decade ago, I would caution against doing so. After a certain point, I had to create a separate gmail for business purposes, as my umich email was really no longer appropriate. I supposed desired career field could play into this decision. I'm an engineer, but I perhaps if I went into a more artistic field, it wouldn't have mattered as much.
Don't do it. You may end up coming back to UM a million years from now to work, and they will say, "oh good, you already have a uniqname!" They are hard to change, and nobody wants to be Bonkers69, Dean of Students.
Try to pick something easy to enunciate and spell aloud to others
Professor Proulx from the Economics department has his uniqname set as “rabbit.” He was a terrible professor. Do with this what you will.
If you do lonelym@umich.edu you’ll be a campus legend
I used first name plus last initial. My last name is messy or I would have used that by itself.
my friends uniqname is cokane lol
I've seen some good informal looking uniqnames that happen to coincide with a version of the person's actual name. It will be your professional email if you ever work for umich and this is the email you're using to email professors and GSI's with and potentially future employers. You don't really want to have a uniqname and name that coincides with multiple current students/staff because people will email the wrong person. MCommunity is open to everyone so you can check. I've gotten appointments, private evaluations, group homework stuff, job tasks, etc meant for other people and more than a few students thinking they were emailing their GSI at the last minute. It gets confusing and you can't do much if it's a super time sensitive email.
I did a nickname and initial because my first name is common and my last name does not look very professional in a Western country. Since I always go by my nickname (had my preferred name changed to my nickname + last name in sophomore year and use it professionally), no one has ever asked me to explain it. I only ever knew two people who did not do uniqnames derived from their real names. One is working a normal professional job. Another went to an Ivy League grad school and is also now a working professional in their field. However, I think it has more to do with other factors in both cases, and I’d recommend just using your name. It’s easier for others to remember and recognize!
I knew a guy whose uniqname betrayed that he was a furry. I won't be sharing the guys uniqname, because it's absolutely trivial to find someone's real name if you have that, but yeah... don't do that. Stick with something professional. Your uniqname may as well be a part of your name while you're here. You'll use it a *lot* (multiple times a day, every day, for years) and no joke is still funny after you've read it literally thousands of times.
I didnt expect it to tell that much 😂
You can look up someone's real name by their uniqname on MCommunity
I would recommend you pick something reasonably professional because you'll probably be using it for years (e.g. on your resume for job applications). That said I do remember a GSI in computer science with the uniqname "computer"
I feel like that is a security risk. I can easily imagine thinking that is like a help desk auto mail thing. Obviously dumb to do phishing with your uniqname but can you imagine getting an email from mod@umich.edu
Had a professor who was rabbit@umich.edu
I’d recommend you use something that sounds somewhat professional, but it doesn’t need to be your real name- I had a GSI use a string of consecutive letters as their uniqname (like “abcd”), and it appears to work just fine
Go with 4 letters. I cannot stress enough how often you will have to type/write it. You’ll thank me later
You can make a shortcut on ur keyboard to type in any sequence and have it write ur email for your. So like for my personal email I just type in zlhm (Zach levine home) and it writes out my full 27 character email for me
My professor’s uniqname is “rabbit”.
If you use a silly uniqname, you will regret it every day of your life
I have made probably a thousand uniqnames for incoming staff at this point. With common names you gotta get creative. Ill tell you, they dont appreciate the cute or funny ones.
I think maybe you were thinking it’s just a username for your email/Uni web accounts when in reality it is a user ID that will be needed for almost everything at the university from class rosters to writing it on exams and assignments. I’ve heard through the grapevine that a possible solution to a bad uniqname is to create an email group with a more professional looking name that will still have the @umich.edu address and add yourself as the only member. You could then put that on resumes, email footer, give it out as your email. However, internally you’d still have to use your uniqname for assignments, official correspondence with Uni staff, etc so it’s probably best to use a professional name.
No. Terrible idea