Username

Not to be confused with Display names.

A username or player name, is a unique string of characters which can be used to identify a user on Roblox. Players can select any available username of their choice upon creating an account and can later change it for 1,000 Robux. Usernames may have 3 to 20 characters, consisting of numbers, letters, and up to one underscore.

History
During the early stages of Roblox, usernames could have spaces in them, such as and, but this feature was later removed on December 21, 2006, due to users impersonating other users by using spaces, and using their full names to create their username. During this time a few administrator accounts had periods in the username, this feature was likely only included during Roblox's beta period between 2004 and 2006.

In the early 2010s, if a username you wanted was taken, Roblox would add a randomly generated word to the first half of it (as a suggestion for the user) to make it untaken on the sign-up page. This feature was removed sometime in 2013 or 2014.

On February 24, 2016, underscores were added back into the allowed list of characters in usernames (the first time since they were initially removed back in December 2006).

In 2018, users were prevented from having usernames made up of only numbers. This was to prevent users from creating usernames of phone numbers and because Roblox was adding a login by phone number feature. Currently, Roblox usernames can consist of 3-20 characters using letters, numbers and a single underscore (_) which must not be the first or last character of the username.

In 2019, a new mobile feature made it so that when you make an account on mobile, you can have the username "Robloxian" consisting with 9 random numbers right after it. This feature was added between early June or July 2019. However, during an unknown date, this feature was somehow available for PC users as well.

In 2020, Usernames are now hidden as long as you have a display name, your username will still be shown if you don't have a display name, however, this feature was removed sometime in October 2020 then re added back sometime in November 2020.

Changing usernames
Initially, users were only allowed to change their names due to either a parent's privacy concerns (such as the username being a player's full name) or per request by the moderation team due to the name violating the Roblox Terms of Service. If a user did not provide an alternate name, the username would then be changed to [ Content Deleted NUMBER ] for usernames changed prior to 2014 or ResetUserID for names changed after 2014. When a username is changed, it will often change the color of the name displayed on the in-game chat system.

A feature released on October 22, 2013, allows users to voluntarily change their usernames for a 1,000 Robux fee. This feature was highly requested by the community on the forums ever since Roblox first released. All usernames that are changed must satisfy all username requirements and policies.

Replacement
Since fall of 2018, most [ Content Deleted ] names have been replaced with [ Account Deleted (PROFILE ID)]. This has been discovered in October 2018, through a user following several of these names. In 2019, inappropriate usernames are now replaced with "Reset[UserID]". Recently, on the website, banned users are just displayed with their proper name and avatar, but you can not click on them.

Name sniping
Name sniping is an activity people do to find rare or lucky names only earlier people could get. For example, "Player" is an example of a name snipe. Most accounts are made for the purpose of taking the name before somebody else can; these accounts are often left inactive or rarely used. Certain groups also have communities that are dedicated to name sniping, which perpetuates the trend. However, this has caused many name snipe accounts to be terminated, due to users password guessing these accounts especially for selling them or showing off in these groups. Usernames with spaces in them are the main targets of password guessing.

Username trends
Aside from name sniping, people often use username trends to make a unique name for themselves and still take the idea of name sniping or adding initials before a name. A list of popular name trends:
 * (Name)Playz(Game)
 * Xx(Name)xX
 * x(Name)x
 * (Name)HD
 * (Name)Gaming
 * (Name)Gamer
 * (Name)ALT
 * (Name)YT
 * ii(Name)
 * ii(Name)ii
 * Word replaced with letters such as "V", "C", "X", or "Z" (Example: Axsthxtics)
 * UseStarCode_(name)
 * (Name)WasTaken
 * (Double digit number) letter k, (Random word) e.g. 24kglocks
 * (Name)_RBLX
 * (Name)RBLX
 * (Name)RBX
 * (Name)_RBX

For some roleplay games, especially those that revolve around policing, these are also common:


 * (Name)Astria
 * ii(Name)_Law
 * (Name)_Law
 * (City)_Operators
 * (City)_Defenders

Username restrictions
Usernames cannot contain or have:


 * Inappropriate phrases in them (unless your username was reset)
 * Copyright infringement.
 * Only numbers.
 * Spaces or any special characters in them (periods, ampersands, emojis etc.)
 * Two or more underscores
 * More than 20 characters (only achievable via Xbox/iOS related glitches)
 * Less than three characters (all of them have been terminated last being qa on August 7, 2021)
 * An already taken username, a banned user's username, or a user who changed their name.
 * Underscores as the first or last character of the username
 * Any private information about someone (e.g. real-life names, age, etc.) (Only for accounts set to be <13)
 * "Robloxian" followed by numbers (When trying to take a user name such as "Robloxian123456789" it will say "Username not available. Please try again," unless you are on mobile devices).
 * Any rude or offensive comments about something such as: "is trash, is bad, etc"
 * Cuss words: this is the most obvious feature of a restricted username.
 * Anything related to romance.
 * Real life physical or suicide threats to others or yourself: such as saying," I'm going to kill you."
 * Any adult content: alcohol, places, actions, etc.
 * Cuss words in other languages: Roblox can identify swear words in other languages, so typing swear words in another language is also restricted.
 * Memories of someone; Roblox does not want people making memories of people, such as saying, "In memory of" or other variants such as " In loving memory of " and so on.
 * Any illegal things.
 * Any tragic events in it, such as for example, 9/11 attack.
 * Anything to do with Robux, including sales, advertisements, have the word Robux, or just having "bux" alone.
 * Share someone else's website, share a website you made, a click ad, or advertise stuff.
 * Ways of breaking rules.
 * Usernames related to hackers or hacking, or even having the word "hacker" in your username.
 * Political figures.
 * A deceased users name: "lizzy_winkle, erikcassel, etc"
 * Specific numbers. (18, 69, 88, 420, 455 and now 711, 0001, 0004, or more than four zeros or two 8s)
 * Any racial or ethnic slurs.
 * Names of Administrators or generic terms for administrators. (Such as "Admin" or "davidbaszucki")
 * Real world politics.
 * "Banned" in the username.
 * Any offensive figures or groups.
 * Names of sports athletes e.g. MichaelJordan2345
 * Any references to an off-platform site. (YouTube, Twitter, ETC)

Quotes
These quotes are used when the username a user enters in the sign up page is not available.


 * "This username is already in use." (Typing a username that was already used)
 * "Please enter a username." (Having the username box empty)
 * "Username not appropriate for Roblox." (Typing an inappropriate username)
 * "Username might contain private information." (Typing a username that may contain private information)
 * "Usernames may only contain letters, numbers, and _." (Typing characters that are not those)
 * "Usernames cannot start or end with _." (Starting or ending a username with "_")
 * "Usernames can be 3 to 20 characters long." (Having over 20 characters in your username)
 * "Usernames can have at most one _." (Typing more than 1 "_" in a username)
 * "Username not available, please try again."

December 2016 exploit
In December 2016, there was an exploit that allowed new accounts to be created with the name of another, such as by making the accounts "David " and "David". People also used this to make 2 letter accounts, such as "pi " and "hi ". This was patched days after the exploit was discovered and all users that were made with the exploit were deleted. At the same time, users were also able to create users with a dash (or hyphen) in their name, e.g. Builder-Guy. All users with dashes in their name got reset.

Usernames with 21+ characters
In Roblox, it is possible to have usernames with 21 or more letters using glitches. These usernames mostly occur in Xbox-related profiles or profiles made for testing purposes by Roblox.

The most notable instance of this being possible was in 2011. When Roblox had first released on iOS devices they messed up the character cap. While it is unknown exactly how it was bugged it allowed users to register accounts with up to 50 characters instead of 20. The exploit was eventually leaked on the forums after around a month where it was then patched.

Trivia

 * Contrary to popular belief, 51 character usernames do not exist. The most characters ever possible were 50.
 * 3 letter usernames ran out somewhere around 2016, with the last one being sniped.
 * The username "KFC" was changed to "Reset23323929", making the username open. A user created the account on October 14th, 2020 here.
 * YouTuber KSI was given the name KSI on August 1st, 2021, technically making this the last three letter username.
 * Almost all 4 letter usernames ran out on February 11th, 2021, although the remaining are either inappropriate or picked up by the filter.
 * Only 5-20 digit usernames are not taken, though in practice, the remaining 4 digit usernames could be taken had they not been filtered.
 * There are users on Roblox who will purposefully change their username to one format (see Username Trends above) in order to be recognizable.
 * If you are logged in to Roblox on multiple devices, changing username will sign you out of all devices except the one where you changed your username.