If you see ‘Username not allowed’ when you sign up for your Google Account or Gmail, follow these guidelines.
Note: 'Abuse' and 'Postmaster' are reserved aliases, and you cannot use them as usernames or aliases. For more information, refer to our spam and abuse policy.
Character length
Choose a username 6–30 characters long. Your username can be any combination of letters, numbers or symbols.
Special characters
- Usernames may contain letters (a-z), numbers (0-9) and full stops (.).
- Usernames cannot contain an ampersand (&), equals sign (=), underscore (_), apostrophe ('), dash (-), plus sign (+), comma (,), brackets (<,>) or more than one full stop (.) in a row.
- Usernames may begin or end with non-alphanumeric characters except full stops (.). Other than this rule, full stops (dots) don’t matter in Gmail addresses.
Visit our Help Centre for more information on how to change your username.