Mac Setup

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Change Mac Computer Name

How to change your Mac's Computer Name in System Settings and from the command line. Your Computer Name is what appears in AirDrop, Bluetooth, Find My, and on your local network.

This article is part of a series on Mac Setup. See also: Change Mac Name for an overview of all 7 Mac names.

Changing your Mac name is one step in setting up your Mac. See the Mac development setup guide.

Before you get started

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Quick answer

Open Apple menu > System Settings > General > About > Name. Click the name field and type a new one. The Computer Name updates immediately.

What the Computer Name controls

Your Computer Name is the "friendly" name that identifies your Mac to other devices. Here are places where the Computer Name appears:

  • AirDrop (for sending and receiving files)
  • Bluetooth (for connecting devices)
  • Find My application (for locating your Mac)
  • On a local network

A Mac's default Computer Name is combined from your first name (from your Apple ID registration) and the Mac model. For example, "Daniel's Laptop." That name is fine in a small office. But if you have two computers with the same name, or you are in a coffee shop or coworking space, you might want to change it to something impersonal.

Change Computer Name via System Settings

Open Apple menu > System Settings > General > About. You will see the name of your Mac at the top of the page. It is not obvious, but you can change the Mac name by clicking and typing on the name entry. The change takes effect immediately.

Change Computer Name via the command line

You can also open a terminal application and change the Computer Name with the scutil command. Replace "the-name" with your desired name:

$ scutil --set ComputerName "the-name"

The name change will take effect after you enter your password.

Change the Local Hostname

The Local Hostname is automatically derived from the Computer Name. It is the Bonjour/mDNS name used for .local network addresses (for example, the-name.local). You will see it in the terminal prompt by default.

When you change the Computer Name, the Local Hostname updates to match. However, you can also change the Local Hostname independently.

Change it via System Settings: open General > Sharing > Local hostname > Edit.

Or use a terminal application to change it. Replace "the-name" with your desired name:

$ scutil --set LocalHostName "the-name"

The name change will take effect after you enter your password. You will see the new name in the terminal prompt after you open a new terminal window.

AirDrop and Bluetooth name

The AirDrop and Bluetooth names are the Computer Name. Changing the Computer Name changes what others see in AirDrop and Bluetooth. There is no separate setting for AirDrop or Bluetooth names.

Related guides

Continue setting up your Mac

Don't miss the full visual roadmap and checklist that shows how to set up a Mac for software development, with all the essential tools and settings you might not yet know about.