A preferred name, or display first name, is one picked by an individual because it represents who they are and how they wish to be known while at the University of Toronto. It may be a formal or informal name. You can select a preferred name as your “display first name” within several University applications when a formal legal name is not required.

Yes, all students, faculty, staff and librarians can opt to set their preferred name.

No, you do not have to select a preferred name. Your first name as it appears on your official legal documentation will be used as the default name, unless you’ve specified a preferred name. Refer to “How do I change my legal name?” for information on changing your official legal name.

Setting a preferred name is different than officially changing your name in University information systems. To change your preferred name, simply login to the my.auth.utoronto.ca system and follow the prompts.

No, the preferred name currently has limited application.

If you choose to set a preferred name, it will appear in UTmail+/Office 365 and associated services, Quercus, Success Factors and Human Resource Information System (HRIS). Refer to “Services that use preferred name” for the current list of supported systems.

Official legal names will be used in all instances when it is required by policy or law, such as on T4 slips for income tax purposes and student academic records.

Changes take approximately 24 hours to populate. For those resources that do not use HRIS or UTORauth as their data source (i.e., departmental website directories), this time may be longer.

If you choose to set a preferred name, remember that this name will be widely displayed to members of the University community. Names that are intentionally offensive or promote hatred or illegal behaviour (or the like) are discouraged.

There is currently no set limit to the number of times your preferred name is changed; however, please be aware that this name is used to identify you to your instructors, peers and the administration and frequent changes may cause confusion for these individuals.

You change or remove your preferred name using the my.auth.utoronto.ca system. If you no longer wish to be known by your chosen preferred name, you must save a ‘blank’ entry over your preferred name. To do this, delete the preferred name and then save an empty field. Your legal first name will then be used.

Information on how to change a formal legal name, and the procedure for changing your gender identity information at the University are outlined on the Sexual and Gender Diversity Office website. Refer to the information for students and for staff and faculty.

Yes and no. Changing your preferred name automatically updates your email display name, but not your username or email address.

For example, if your official legal name is Desma Upton and your email address is desma.upton@utoronto.ca, and you want to change your preferred name to “Dee”, your update will result in Dee Upton becoming the preferred name people see, but your email address will remain desma.upton@utoronto.ca.

Preferred name changes take up to 24 hours to appear.

At present, the my.auth.utoronto.ca system does not support international characters. We hope to address this issue in a future update.

No, only your formal legal name appears on the TCard.

The guideline is applied equally to all students – international and domestic.

Students should contact their registrar’s office, and employees should contact their divisional human resources office.