My name has changed on my account

Anonymous
2025-11-23T21:43:40.4966667+00:00

I am signed in on my phone with the outlook app. I noticed today when I typed in my email address to email myself a photo from my phone to my laptop that my name on my account has changed - without me changing it - the spelling of my first name has changed with the addition of 1 other letter. HOWEVER my name is only wrong when typing in my email address and in my sent box on my phone - elsewhere in the phone app my name is correct, and my name is correct on the online log in on my laptop. It's very odd! I have checked my account security and no suspicious log ins, not logged into any unknown devices, no emails sent not by me, so no other evidence of hacking at all. What could this be????

Microsoft 365 and Office | Other
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Answer accepted by question author
Kai-H 31,165 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator
2025-11-24T10:12:12.9666667+00:00

Hi, Anon5829

Welcome to Microsoft Q&A.

Thanks for your message. What you've described seems to be a display name mismatch, not a compromised account. Here are the explanations and workarounds for your situation:

Why This Happens

Cached Contact or Auto-Complete Data

  • Outlook mobile often stores a local cache of names for quick suggestions. If your name was ever typed incorrectly or synced from another source (e.g., phone contacts), that cached entry can override the correct display name when composing emails.

Separate Display Name Layers

  • Microsoft Account Profile: Controls what shows in Outlook Web and most apps.
  • Outlook Mobile App Cache: May not refresh immediately when the profile changes.
  • Email Header: If the wrong name was cached, it appears in the “From” field on sent items.

Sync Delay

  • Updates to your Microsoft account name can take up to 24 hours to propagate across all services and apps.

Not a Security Breach

Since your account security shows no suspicious activity and the name is correct on web login, this is almost certainly a local app issue, not compromising.

How to Fix It

Clear Auto-Complete Cache in Outlook Mobile

  • Remove the incorrect suggestion:
    • Start a new email, type your address, tap the “i” or info icon next to the wrong name, and delete it.

Update Your Microsoft Account Name

  • Sign in at account.microsoft.com > Your Info > Edit Name, then save changes.

Force Sync or Reinstall Outlook App

  • Log out and back in, or reinstall the app to refresh cached data.

Check Linked Contacts

  • If your phone contacts have the wrong spelling, Outlook may pull from there. Correct it in your phone’s contact list.

Hope this helps. Feel free to get back if you have other questions.

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