How to Make a Smiley in Front of Your Facebook Name

You can add a variety of special characters to decorate your Facebook name.

One of the main ways other Facebook users can find you on the social network is the first and last name you list on your Facebook profile. Your name appears next to all your activity on the site: next to all your comments, in all your tagged photos and above all your status updates on your friends' news feeds. Add a cheery touch to your Facebook name by inserting a text or graphical smiley in front of your first name.

Instructions

1. Log in to your Facebook account and click the "Account" tab in the upper-right corner of the homepage.

2. Click "Account Settings" from the drop-down menu that appears under the "Account" tab.

3. Click the "Change" link under the "Name" section.

4. Click the space in front of your first name in the "First Name" field.

5. Type a colon and a closed parenthesis to make a right-facing smile emoticon that looks like this: :)

6. Type an open parenthesis, then a colon to make a left-facing emoticon that looks like this: (:

7. Press and hold the Alt key on your keyboard, then press "1" on your number keypad without quotes to make a graphic white smiley face.

8. Press and hold the Alt key on your keyboard, then press "2" on your number keypad without quotes to make a graphic black or blushing smiley face.

9. Click the blue "Save Changes" button under the "Name" section to save your smiley in front of your Facebook name.

10. Click the "Confirm Change" button to confirm that you want to change your first name to include the symbol.

Tips & Warnings

• If your keyboard is a laptop keyboard and you don't have a separate number keypad, press Alt Fn 1 or Alt Fn 2 to make the solid-body smiley faces. The smilies appear when you release the Alt key. You can use the Windows Character Map to add many different kinds of emoticons, faces and symbols to your Facebook name. Click the Windows "Start" button in the lower left corner of your screen, then type "Character Map" without quotes in the search field. Click the Character Map to open it, then double-click the emoticon or symbol you want to use. Click the "Copy" button in the Character Map to copy the special character to your computer's clipboard, then paste it into your Facebook name field.

• Changes to your Facebook name may take up to 24 hours to appear live on your profile.Though it is not strictly against its terms of service to add a symbol to your first name, Facebook strongly encourages its users to use only their real first and last name in their Facebook profiles and discourages you from adding symbols. This is partly because adding symbols to your name may make searching for you more difficult for other Facebook users. As an alternative, you can add a smiley to your status update or another section of your Facebook profile, such as your "Favorite Quotes" section.

References

• Penn State University: Teaching and Learning With Technology: Character Map Utility
• Microsoft Windows: Using Special Characters
• Facebook Help Center: Profile: How Do I Change My Name?

Resources

• Facebook: Terms of Service/ Statement of Rights and Responsibilities