Rename account? Can an account name be changed?

Question

Is it possible to rename an account (the 12 character name)? And if so, what is the CLEOS command to do it?

Thanks!

Answer 1

You cannot rename (nor delete) an account.

Once created an account exists on the blockchain forever (immutability of blockchains and all that, transactions and accounts stay on forever).

You could transfer or give away an account that you don't want with this command:

cleos set account permission youraccountname owner EOSThisIsTheNewPublicKeyYouAreGivingTheAccountTo -p youraccountname@owner

If it succeeds then the owner of the private key for the public key you gave in the command above now controls this account.

Answer 2

It is not possible to rename your account, but you can buy a premium name:

https://toolkit.genereos.io/names

For more about premium names please read this article: https://steemit.com/eos/@genereos/name-bidding-and-premium-names-on-eos