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Email, Active Directory, How to Change Preferred Name for Students
Students can designate a preferred first name which certain university systems will use. This is helpful for setting your name to reflect your gender identity.
NOTE: Specifying a preferred first name will also hide your middle name, as well as any prefix- and/or suffixes you may have, such as Dr. or III (the third). You can set your preferred first name as your legal name to only hide your middle name, if desired.
Please refer to the University Preferred First Name Statement for further details on how to set or change a preferred first name and where it will and won't be used.
Staff should use the existing procedures documented here: Identity Management, Active Directory, How to Change Display Name for Faculty/Staff
Diploma Name:
Out of concern for the safety and privacy of transgender and nonbinary students, we do not use preferred names on any communication or documentation that will be viewed outside the campus community. We follow this approach to protect against the possible inadvertent disclosure of a preferred name that a student may not have yet chosen to use outside of the University of Illinois.
Preferred First Name vs. Diploma Name: What's the Difference?
Setting a preferred first name does not automatically change the name that will be listed on a diploma or used at Commencement/Convocation ceremonies. A student must specify a diploma name (see below) to change the name listed on their diploma and other Commencement/Convocation related materials and ceremonies.