Where do I change the name of my boot volume?

HWTech wrote:

Use Disk Utility to change the volume name. It is best to change both APFS volume names associated with a macOS boot volume. A default macOS installation will have them named "Macintosh HD" and "Macintosh HD - Data". For some unknown reason macOS and Disk Utility will not change both automatically to keep the names in sync. I've heard that with Ventura and possibly Monterey, that the "Macintosh HD - Data" volume may just be called "Data". I haven't paid close attention to this unless this is just in reference to the mount point.

Within Disk Utility Right-click (or Control-click) on the volume on the left pane of Disk Utility which you want to rename. If the other matched volume is not automatically renamed as well, then do the same to the other APFS volume so the base names match. Keeping the two APFS volumes matched will make things easier to decipher.

You are correct 👍

Refer to below image " Data " naming in Ventura 13.3.1

Use Disk Utility to change the volume name. It is best to change both APFS volume names associated with a macOS boot volume. A default macOS installation will have them named "Macintosh HD" and "Macintosh HD - Data". For some unknown reason macOS and Disk Utility will not change both automatically to keep the names in sync. I've heard that with Ventura and possibly Monterey, that the "Macintosh HD - Data" volume may just be called "Data". I haven't paid close attention to this unless this is just in reference to the mount point.

Within Disk Utility Right-click (or Control-click) on the volume on the left pane of Disk Utility which you want to rename. If the other matched volume is not automatically renamed as well, then do the same to the other APFS volume so the base names match. Keeping the two APFS volumes matched will make things easier to decipher.

> option-key restart (see image in original post) - and how/where to make that change

Does resetting SMC and PRAM make any effect? This might need digging deeper but I'd avoid trying to edit boot volumes at low level just for this cosmetic issue.

This is why I always carefully plan how to name boot volumes. I have always used "HD" for the internal work volume and something like fixed macOS 10.14, macOS_12, macOS_13_backup etc for external boot volumes.

When I've renamed the APFS volumes, I've only ever adjusted the two main APFS volumes and never any of the other items. Unfortunately since macOS keeps changing how these volumes & containers work it is hard to say exactly which item should have which name now. I would have to check a Monterey system to be sure.

With macOS 10.15 Catalina, at one time anyway, renaming one of the two APFS volumes would automatically rename the other one when the change was performed within Disk Utility. I have no idea whether a later macOS 10.15.x update may have changed this behavior of Disk Utility. I have no idea why Apple changed this behavior with macOS 11.x+.

As far as the name which shows up on the Option Boot Apple boot picker menu, that can be separate from the macOS volume name. I'm not sure how it works for the macOS boot volume as there is a lot of secret magic going on behind the scenes. I know it is possible to change the name on the Option Boot screen using the command line, but I would hesitate to use it on the macOS boot volume due to all the secret magic I mentioned. I've only ever used the command line to modify the Option Boot name for items on external boot drives (not macOS boot volumes, but third party boot volumes).

Since macOS has seemingly broken the customization of macOS APFS boot volumes since macOS 10.15, I have tried to correctly name the boot volume prior to installing macOS onto the volume just like @Matti Haveri mentions.