If you’ve been saddled with some awful Gmail address you chose in high school (looking at you, LazySexyCool3030), help appears to be on the way. According to a Google account support page in Hindi the company is allowing some people to change their email address. According to the page (via Google Translate):
If your Google Account email address ends with gmail.com, you can replace it with one that ends with @gmail.com.
This appears to be more like adding a second address to your account than actually changing your email address, however. Email sent to your old address will still arrive in your inbox, and that address will still work to sign in to any accounts associated with it. In fact, your old address is set as an alias for the new one. Any messages, photos, and other files associated with the old address will also be preserved.
There are some limits on the ability to change addresses. You can only do it once a year, for one. And you can only create three new addresses in total — after that, you’re cut off. You can still revert to your old email at any time. There are also apparently some issues with settings and files carrying over on ChromeOS, so it’s advised that you make a full backup of your computer before switching.
For people who got their Gmail address when they were young, before they even considered the possibility that they might not be that into Naruto forever, this could save a lot of headaches. It’s also likely to be appreciated by anyone who has changed their name.
The updated support page isn’t showing up in English, and the option to change your Gmail address hasn’t appeared for any Verge staffers yet. According to 9to5Google the feature is “gradually rolling out to all users.” We’ve reached out to Google for confirmation.