Bored or embarrassed by your Gmail address? Google finally has a solution for that

I still remember my first email address. It was Hotmail rather than Gmail, but was certainly not one I could be using now, even personally, let alone professionally.

I’m too embarrassed to admit what it actually was, but I was around 13. I liked the Spice Girls, but anything to do with them was already taken so I had to mix it up. I’ll just say that both spice and guy were in the address, and as you might gather from my name, I’m not a guy and well, I’m not sure I have any spice either.

If you made the same mistake as me but for a Gmail account, the only way you could alter an address previously was to delete your account and make a new one, which frankly, is a pain. Thankfully, that is set to change.

According to a report on 9to5Google, Google is finally giving you the option to change an existing Gmail account address. The rollout started last year but it has been accelerated more recently, with more languages added to the official support page, including English.

Now there are a couple of things to note before you get too carried away. First, you can only make a change once a year, and you can only do it three times in total. So basically, if you’re thinking of putting spice and guy into a new address, make sure you’ll be ok with it in a year.

Second, both email addresses will continue to exist with the new email address you set up acting as an alias. It means that emails that are sent to your old address will still come through. Whether that is a good or bad thing will depend on why you're changing your address in the first place.

Finally, the 9to5Google report suggests the ability to change your email address is currently live in India, but it is not clear how widely it will roll out so you may not see it yet.

How to change a Gmail email address

When you do get the chance, these are the steps you’ll need to follow to change a Gmail address. Remember, it's only once every 12 months and three times in total – so don’t mess it up.

1. Head to myaccount.google.com/google-account-email
2. Tap on ‘Personal info’ on the left menu bar
3. Tap on 'Email'
4. If the option is available to you, you’ll see ‘Change your Google Account email address’ under Google Account email
5. Type in a new email address
6. Select 'Change email address'
7. Press 'Confirm'
8. Follow the remaining steps