How to I stop Apple Mail showing my real name and email address (Sequoia)?

Question

How to I stop Apple Mail showing my real name and email address (Sequoia)?

Hello. I’ve recently changed to my first Mac. My current problem is with email addresses using Apple Mail and Sequoia.

I have a number of email addresses which I use for different purposes. They follow this format:

[nickname1]@domain.com

[nickname2]@domain.com, etc.

If I send an email using from [nickname1] to [nickname2], the recipient sees:

[real name] as the sender and [nickname1]@domain.com as the recipient.

This is with Smart Addresses turned on. With Smart Addresses turned off, the recipient sees:

[real name] <[nickname1]@domain.com> as the sender and [nickname2]@domain.com as the recipient.

Either of these options defeat much of the rationale for having these addresses in the first place. I want the recipient to see:

[nickname1] as the sender and [nickname2] as the recipient.

This worked very well with my old PC. What do I have to do to get Apple Mail to do this?

So far:

I’ve tried reducing my real name to just my initials in Setting > Apple Account

I’ve turned off Contacts and Mail & Messages in Settings > Spotlight

I’ve turned off Contacts and Mail in Settings > Apple Intelligence & Siri

I’ve cleaned out Mail > Window > Previous Recipients

What else?

Mac mini, macOS 15.3

Posted on Feb 6, 2025 1:07 PM

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Answer 1

Feb 6, 2025 1:13 PM in response to cantcontainspaces

You are seeing your real name because you have your name linked to your email address on your computer. When you send to someone else, all they will see is your email address.

For example on my computer or phone, I can create a contact name Joe Smith and add your email to it. When I receive an email from your email address, I will see it as Joe Smith. You did not sent the email to me named Joe Smith, that is only how I view it because I have that name associated with your email address.

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Answer 2

Feb 6, 2025 3:37 PM in response to Mac Jim ID

Thank you for the very fast response, and my apologies for a much slower reply (I'm taking a break from shoveling snow). I've just done a quick test with my wife: I sent a message from one of my nicknames to two of hers. In both cases she saw:

[my real surname, given name] in each mailbox's preview list

[my nickname] in the "from" field of the message

[her "Contacts" name] in each "To:" field

She replied to each message and I saw:

[her "Contacts" name] in my preview list

[her "Contacts" name] in the "from" field of the message

[my real given name, surname] in the "To:" field

I suspect that some of this depends on her settings too, but I think it's clear that I'm not getting what I want. I need to do some more definitive testing. Perhaps someone who doesn't have my name in their Contacts wouldn't see my real name in their preview list, but that's hard for me to test.

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