How to Change Displayed Name in Messages

Question

How to Change Displayed Name in Messages

Is there a way to choose what name is displayed in Messages? I have my wife listed under her name and also under ICE for "in case of emergency." I have been told that EMS personnel will often check a cell phone for the entry "ICE" if they need a person's emergency contact information.

Even if I send a text to my wife's name, my Messages program labels the conversation with the name ICE. I'd prefer it to show her name.

Thanks

MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X Yosemite (10.10.1)

Posted on Nov 24, 2014 1:58 PM

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Answer 1

Nov 24, 2014 2:35 PM in response to Ralph-Johns-UK

Thanks, but that doesn't fix the problem. When I use the drop-down list to choose my wife's name it will label the conversation "New Message to ICE."

When I delete the ICE entry, Messages will then correctly label the conversation. If I add the ICE contact back, it will change its label again from my wife's name to ICE. It doesn't matter if the ICE is in the first name, last name or company field.

Any other thoughts?

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Answer 2

Nov 24, 2014 2:12 PM in response to Newo bob oweN

Hi,

You seem to be saying that the Name for the Contact in use in an iMessages conversation is not using your wife's Address card from the Contacts app.

If you go to the Name in the "To" spot it should be come a drop down.

This should list other options that look the same but refer to different Address Cards.

10:12 PM Monday; November 24, 2014

 iMac 2.5Ghz i5 2011 (Mavericks 10.9)
 G4/1GhzDual MDD (Leopard 10.5.8)
 MacBookPro 2Gb (Snow Leopard 10.6.8)
 Mac OS X (10.6.8),
 Couple of iPhones and an iPad

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Answer 3

Nov 24, 2014 2:44 PM in response to Newo bob oweN

I just changed the name on the "ICE" contact to my wife's name and the name of the contact for my wife to ICE. Believe it or not, that allowed the messages program to correctly label our conversation.

There must be some hierarchy in the program as to which label to use for two identical numbers, but I can't see how to edit it otherwise.

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Answer 4

Nov 25, 2014 11:55 AM in response to Newo bob oweN

Hi,

Nice find.

The Address Cards are a bit strange. There is a field that iChat could access where you added a Buddy and you could create a card from there which as well as First Name Last name could have a Nickname.

In iChat you could then decide to show people by Nicknames (it would default to First Name only if there wasn't one).

However it only allows one instance of a Nickname. This meant that if you knew two "Dave"s as a Nickname/Short form iChat would not display them properly.

Yosemite will still show the Buddy List > Highlight Buddy > Get Info keystrokes and will show you the "Info For..." and has a Nickname space.

However the app has now no way to display this.

7:55 PM Tuesday; November 25, 2014

 iMac 2.5Ghz i5 2011 (Mavericks 10.9)
 G4/1GhzDual MDD (Leopard 10.5.8)
 MacBookPro 2Gb (Snow Leopard 10.6.8)
 Mac OS X (10.6.8),
 Couple of iPhones and an iPad

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Answer 5

Dec 6, 2014 12:54 PM in response to nodaksweets

Hi,

Welcome to the Apple Support Communities

It is not not obvious from the info that Apple Does put out about these Support Communities but generally if a thread has a green tick it is Solved.

That is not always the case as the Helpful and Correct button (that only the Original Posters sees) tend to make new posters use them just because someone replied.

Also it pays to join a Thread only if you have the exact same problem, but again that can be very hard to judge.

IN the Contacts app > Preferences > Account check that the Mac is syncing with the other device.

This can also be set up in System Preferences > Internet Accounts with most people using the iCloud option but it can also be done with Google, Yahoo and others. (although there can be issues doing it with several at once)

8:54 PM Saturday; December 6, 2014

 iMac 2.5Ghz i5 2011 (Mavericks 10.9)
 G4/1GhzDual MDD (Leopard 10.5.8)
 MacBookPro 2Gb (Snow Leopard 10.6.8)
 Mac OS X (10.6.8),
 Couple of iPhones and an iPad

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Answer 6

Dec 6, 2014 11:52 AM in response to Ralph-Johns-UK

I hope it is ok to ask my question here. If not, please just delete.... I'm not trying to do anything wrong. When my text messages used to show up on my macbook, it had the person's name who it was from. For some reason, now it only shows the phone number. And i don't remember any phone numbers any more! Can you please help me? I'd like it to show the person's name again. Thank you and God bless you!

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