My display name changes to an incorrect person when sending emails to myself in Outlook

Question

My display name changes to an incorrect person when sending emails to myself in Outlook

D CHIN 25

For the last two days, when I send an email to myself an incorrect name from my address book is displayed. I was still able to 'receive' those emails. However now the display name has changed again and to include my name plus the incorrect person's name. So now, the email 'sends' but is not received into my inbox. I cannot delete the incorrect display name from the drop down options. I tried to update my display name in Outlook/ File / Account Settings/ Change/ but my display name did not come show. How to fix my outlook email display name, please?

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Answer 1

Hi @D CHIN

Thank you for posting your question in the Q&A Forum.

I understand you’re seeing the wrong display name when sending emails to yourself, and now those emails don’t even arrive in your Inbox. Here are a few things you can try:

Clear the cached wrong name (AutoComplete)

Start a new email, type your own address, and when the wrong name shows up in the dropdown, hover over it and click the X (or press Delete).
If Outlook won’t let you remove it this way, close the app and go to:
C:\Users<YourUserName>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook\RoamCache
Delete any files starting with Stream_Autocomplete, then restart Outlook.

Remove any conflicting contact card

Check your People/Contacts list for your own email address. If you find a saved contact with the wrong or mixed display name, delete it.

Update your official display name

Personal Outlook.com/Hotmail accounts: sign in at account.microsoft.com/profile and update your name there.
Work/School (Exchange or Microsoft 365) accounts: the display name isn’t editable in Outlook desktop. It’s controlled by your organization’s server, so you’ll need to ask IT to update it. Changes can take some time to sync.
Other IMAP/POP accounts: go to File > Account Settings > Account Settings > Change, then edit the Your Name field. If it doesn’t appear or won’t update, remove and re-add the account to refresh the settings.

Hopefully these steps help clear the wrong cached name and get your emails showing up normally again. If anything still doesn’t work after trying this, feel free to come back here. I’m happy to help you troubleshoot further.

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D CHIN 25 Reputation points

2025-10-02T06:44:02.2466667+00:00

Thanks for your detailed response. There may have been conflicting detail in my contact info. I edited my name in my Microsoft profile and fine tuned my own contact details in Outlook. It seems to have worked for now. Thanks
Anonymous

2025-10-02T08:27:20.3066667+00:00

Hi @D CHIN

I’m glad to hear that updating your Microsoft profile and fine-tuning your contact details resolved the issue.

If this answer helped solve your issue, you could click the “Accepted Answer” button to let others quickly find the solution and benefit from it too, helping the whole community.

And of course, feel free to come back if you run into any further issues, we’re always happy to help!
LH 5 Reputation points

2026-01-05T10:16:16.3833333+00:00

How do I do this on Android? Its the same issue and it won't let me remove the suggestion. It looks like the kind of name a hacker might use, so worried my account has been compromised.