I've got my wife's iPhone number in Contacts listed under her first and last name. I've also made a contact called ICE (in case of emergency) with that number as well. Whenever I want to send her a message and start to enter her name or number, ICE shows up instead of her name. Is there any way to change things so her name shows up instead of ICE? (If it matters, her first name starts with Y and her last name starts with H)
May I suggest an alternate approach?
Like you, I have wanted to make an ICE contact available in case it's necessary. For years, I had an iPhone app specifically for that purpose. However, since iOS 9, there is a new, efficient way to do that. If you adapt this method, you will be able to supply plenty of ICE information if you wish (such things as doctor's telephone number, medications, allergies, etc.) and you will not need an ICE entry in your contact list.
Please consider this solution.
Set up your Medical ID in the Health app on your iPhone - Apple Support
Thanks for your reply. I've already had that information in my Medical ID, but I would still like to have an ICE in my contacts since some people might look there instead of the Health app
Try omitting her email address from the ICE contact entry. (Presumably her email address does exist both on your iPhone in her contacts entry and on her iPhone in Settings > Messages > Send & Receive > You can be reached by iMessage at).
Then send a message to her email address.
I don't have her e-mail address listed in the ICE contact. But her e-mail address does show up as a "Linked Contact" at the bottom of the ICE contact listing. Is there a way to unlink it, and would this help?
Yes, you should certainly unlink this contact.
It likely arises because in addition to having your wife as a contact from your primary source (whatever source that might be), you probably imported contacts from some secondary source (e.g., Facebook).
More details are here (from the iPhone User Guide):
How do I change which contact is displayed when messaging?
