UsernameChecker How to choose a username
A good handle is easy to say, easy to type, and still free on the networks you actually use. This guide is for product names, open-source projects, and shops — not for impersonating someone else.
Start with the strictest network
GitHub is stricter than most social apps: no underscores, no dots, no trailing hyphen, maximum 39 characters. If a candidate survives GitHub, you can usually adapt it for Instagram or TikTok (those allow underscores). Work the other way and you may invent my_brand only to learn GitHub wants my-brand.
Read the GitHub username rules, then check availability on this site.
A simple naming process
- Write the spoken name. If people cannot spell it after hearing it once, they will not find you.
- Strip decoration. Drop years, “official”, and random digits unless they are part of the product.
- Make a GitHub-safe variant. Replace spaces and underscores with a single hyphen, or concatenate words (
usernamechecker). - Check the checker. Look at GitHub first, then the social and store tabs.
- Register the important ones the same day. Availability hints go stale. Create the GitHub login and the shop before you announce.
Patterns that usually fail
- Dictionary words with no modifier (
music,shop) — already taken almost everywhere. - Leetspeak (
n4m3) — hard to remember and looks spammy in ads. - Handles that include another company’s trademark.
- Names that only work because of a typo of a famous account.
Length across platforms
UsernameChecker accepts candidates up to 39 characters so GitHub logins can be tested in full. Other apps are shorter: Instagram 30, TikTok 24, X 15. If you want one string everywhere, stay at or under 15 characters, or keep a short core plus a documented suffix on the networks that allow it.
Ethics
Do not squat names to extort people. Do not check handles in order to harass or stalk. Our terms forbid those uses. The checker reports public availability only.