Question
What can my email address be?
Overview
This document discusses the naming conventions for UC Davis email addresses.
In cases where a user’s default email address is not available, a user may configure an alternative email address as long as the new email address meets the restrictions outlined below.
When a user has a formal name change, the email address may be changed using the same set of rules.
Answer
The structure of your UC Davis email address is:
[Prefix][Suffix]@ucdavis.edu
When your computing account is created, the system will attempt to assign you an email address based on the following default settings:
- Prefix: The first letter of the first name, the first letter of the middle name.
- Suffix: The full last name or the last name up to the maximum letter count.
Example: John Doe Christopher
Default: jdchristopher@ucdavis.edu
The rules that apply to all email addresses are:
- No numbers
- No special characters such as @#$%&*+
- The prefix should contain your first and middle initials.
- If you have difficulty finding an available email address, the prefix can be anything between 1 and 3 letters.
- The suffix should contain your last name.
- If you have difficulty finding an available email address, you do not need to include your full last name, though the suffix must at least have 2 consecutive letters from your last name and can not include characters not in your last name. For example if your last name is Smith, you can use smit, mith, smi, sm, mit, mi, ith, th but not smith2, smithtwo, etc.
- The suffix cannot bring the address beyond 24 letters.
Below is a short list of examples showing how one might choose an email address if their assigned default is unavailable.
Example: John Doe Christopher
Default: jdchristopher@ucdavis.edu
Alternative: jonchristopher
This uses different letters in the prefix.
Alternative: jdchris
This leaves out letter from the suffix but still contains enough letters to be valid.
Alternative: dchris
This is a combination of changing the prefix and the suffix.