Modern Xiaomi and Redmi smartphones are complex devices where the identity of the owner occurs on several levels at the same time. Many users face confusion: they do not understand where exactly the display name that friends in contacts or other devices see when connecting over Bluetooth changes. The MIUI ecosystem and the new HyperOS do not have a single “My Name” button, since the system shares local device settings, cloud profile and system identifiers.
In this article, we’ll take a closer look at every aspect of personalization so you can have complete control over how your phone is presented to the world, learn how to change your Mi Cloud account name, adjust your Google profile data, and, most importantly, rename your wireless phone itself. Customizing these settings not only adds personality, but also makes it easier to find your device in shared lists using features like Find Device.
Before you make any changes, it's important to understand the difference between the owner's name and the model's name. If you want to have Ivan's phone on the Internet or connect to a column instead of Redmi Note 12, you'll need to change the system name of the device, which is safe and doesn't affect how the applications work, but requires careful character input to avoid encoding problems on older operating systems.
Differences between device name and owner name
The first thing to learn before you start setting up is the fundamental difference between the name of a gadget on the network and the personal username in cloud services. When you connect to Wi-Fi or search for a phone via Bluetooth on another device, it shows the system name of the model, which usually matches the commercial name, for example, Xiaomi 13T or Redmi Note 11.
At the same time, the owner’s name is stored in the profile of the Google account or Mi Account, and this data is used to personalize email, display in messengers (if it is synchronized with contacts), and restore data from the backup. Changing one parameter does not affect the other, so you need to act purposefully depending on your final goal.
Often users want to change their name to make their phone easier to find on the list of available devices in public transport or the office, in such cases, change the Bluetooth ID. If your goal is to display your real name in the Gmail header or in the synchicization settings, you need to work with account profiles. Confusion in these concepts often leads to the person changing the settings in the wrong menu, and then surprised by the lack of results.
⚠️ Warning: Changing the system name of a device may affect how your phone's name is displayed in connection history on previously paired gadgets.Old devices may continue to display the former until re-pairing.
Change the device name for Bluetooth and Wi-Fi
The most popular type of setup is renaming your smartphone for wireless visibility, which is a name that your friends will see when they search for a file transfer device, or you will see when you connect your phone to the car's audio system. In the shells of MIUI 12, 13, 14 and the new HyperOS, this option is displayed in a separate settings menu.
To perform the operation, you need to go to the settings section, which can be called differently depending on the firmware version. Usually the path looks like Settings → About the phone or Settings → Connections and Sharing. In some versions of the interface, the parameter is hidden deeper, and it takes longer to find it than the change procedure itself.
Once you find the right field, the system will suggest you enter new text, which can use letters, numbers and some special characters, but avoid using emojis or rare characters if you plan to connect your phone to old tape recorders or computers with Windows 7 and below, as they may not display Unicode characters correctly.
☑️ Algorithm of name change
The process of changing the name of the device in different versions of the firmware can have its own peculiarities. Below is a table that will help you navigate where to look for the desired parameter depending on your version of MIUI:
| MIUI/HyperOS version | The path to adjustment | Parameter |
|---|---|---|
| MIUI 12 / 13 | Settings → About the phone | Name of device |
| MIUI 14 | Settings → About the phone | Device name (top) |
| HyperOS | Settings → About the phone | Name of device |
| Older versions (MIUI 11) | Settings → Additional → Device Name | Name of Bluetooth |
Importantly, after a name change, you need to reboot the wireless modules. The most reliable way is to completely turn off and turn on the smartphone. If you do not do this, the phone may still appear under the old name in the list of available networks on other devices for some time due to data caching in routers and associated gadgets.
Editing a profile in the Mi Cloud account
Xiaomi and Redmi smartphone owners are actively using the Mi Cloud cloud service to back up contacts, photos and notes. The name listed in this profile is the main owner ID in the brand ecosystem, which is what you will see if you lose your phone and someone tries to unlock it by seeing a message about the owner, or using the Family Sharing feature.
To change the data, you will need to access the Internet and log in to the settings. Go to Settings → Mi Account (or Settings → Accounts and Sync → Mi Account). At the top of the screen, your avatar and current name will appear. Click on it to go to edit.
The system will redirect you to the profile management page, where you can change not only the name, but also the nickname (ID), which is used in the Xiaomi Community service and gaming services. Please note that the change of nickname can be limited by the rules of the platform: for example, it can not be changed more than once every 30 days, and it must be unique throughout the system.
What to do if you forget your Mi Account password?
Once the changes are made, the data will be updated on all devices that log in to this account, which is especially convenient for those who use several Xiaomi gadgets: a tablet, a phone and a smartwatch. A single owner name helps to properly sort data in the cloud storage and avoid confusion when synchronizing contacts between different family devices.
Setting up a name in a Google profile
The Android operating system that Redmi runs on is deeply integrated with Google services. The name you use on Gmail, YouTube, and Google Play is automatically pulled into various system notifications and can be displayed in the account settings on the phone itself, and the change will affect all of the services in the corporation.
To change this data, open Settings → Google → Managing your Google account. Next, go to the Personal Information tab. Here you will see the Name field, which can be edited. The system may ask you to confirm the action with a code from SMS or through a push notification if two-factor protection is enabled.
Note that changes to Google profiles may not be instantaneous at all levels of the system, and the app cache may keep the old name for a while, and if you use a Google Workspace account, your organization’s administrator may not allow you to change your name or set up its own display rules.
- 📱 Open the Settings app on your Redmi.
- 🔍 Find the Google section and click on “Account Management».
- 👤 Go to the “Personal Information” tab and select “Name».
- ✏️ Enter new data and save the changes by confirming the password.
Changing the name on Google is especially important for those who bought a phone from hand or inherited it from an old account, and often new owners forget to update this data, and as a result, the name of the previous user is displayed in search histories or when installing applications, which can cause confusion or privacy problems.
Change the name of the owner in the phone contacts
Special attention should be paid to the “My profile” in the phone book, which is a special entry in the contacts, which is marked with a silhouette icon of a person, and this is the data used by messengers (WhatsApp, Telegram, Viber) when registering, and also displayed at the top of the contact list as “You”.
To edit, open the standard Contacts or Phone app, go to the Contacts tab, and find the entry with your name at the top of the list (often signed as “My Profile” or has a special icon).
It’s important to understand that this record is local to a particular contact application, but when synchronized with Google, it can update data in the cloud. If you have multiple accounts on your phone (for example, one personal Google and one corporate Exchange), make sure to edit the profile of the account that is selected as the primary for synchronizing contacts.
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Save a backup of your contacts before mass editing. Export them to.vcx or make sure that sync with Google is successful so you don't lose important numbers when you accidentally delete the duplicates.
Some users prefer to call their profile simply “I” or “Home” to easily find themselves on the list, but for smart features like identifying a caller on a smartwatch or in a car to work properly, it’s better to use a full name and surname, which will help the Google Assistant or Xiao AI to correctly address you.
Coding problems and special symbols
When choosing a name for a device or profile, it is often tempting to use custom characters, Cyrillic in Latin fields, or emoji for beauty. However, not all data protocols and operating systems are equally well supported by Unicode, especially older versions of Windows, macOS and in-car multimedia systems.
If you notice that after the phone was renamed, it became known as a set of question marks or cranks on a friend's computer, then there was an encoding error, in which case it is recommended to return to using only Latin letters (A-Z) and numbers (0-9), which guarantees maximum compatibility with all surrounding equipment.
Particular caution should be exercised when using spaces at the beginning or end of a name, some systems automatically crop them, others replace them with a lower underline, and others may not accept a name with this format at all. The best practice is to use CamelCase or split words with a hyphen, for example, Ivan-Phone or RedmiNote12Pro.
⚠️ Note: Do not use reserved operating system symbols such as / \: *?" < > |, This can lead to errors when trying to create a folder with the phone name on your computer or when saving files.
The Bluetooth standard and many Wi-Fi protocols have limitations on the number of characters (usually up to the limit of the number of characters). 20-30 If you type a name that is too long, the system can automatically crop it, making it unreadable. A short and concise name is always better than a long and confusing one.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Can I change the name of the device without root rights?
Why does the name in Bluetooth not change after setting up?
Does the name change affect the Xiaomi guarantee?
How to change your name if your phone is blocked by your Mi Account?
Will my contacts see that I have changed my name?
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Properly configured device and profile name is not just aesthetics, but also an important element of security and convenience of identifying your gadget in the crowded air of wireless networks.