Can a Scratch username be changed?

Not by the account owner. The Scratch Team changes usernames only in rare cases, such as when a name contains personal information, so a Scratch username normally stays with one account.

Scratch User Finder: Find a Scratcher by Username

Find a Scratch creator’s projects, studios, and public profile through their username.

First search free. No card required.

Last updated October 23, 2026

About Scratch profiles

How Scratch usernames work

Every Scratch account has one username of 3 to 20 characters, using only letters, numbers, hyphens, and underscores, with no spaces. It is the profile address at scratch.mit.edu/users/<handle> and appears on every project and comment the account posts. Scratchers cannot change it themselves.

Typical profile URL: https://scratch.mit.edu/users/<handle>

Tips for finding accounts

Scratch’s search bar covers projects and studios, not members. Follow an author link from a project, studio, or comment; a studio’s curators list can help when you do not know the username.

Profile visibility

Scratch asks members not to use any part of their real name in a username, and its community guidelines ask them not to share last names, schools, hometowns, or usernames and links for other social sites. A Scratch profile is therefore designed not to connect to a real-world identity or to accounts elsewhere. Unshared projects are not visible to anyone else.

More about Scratch

What this service is

Scratch is a block-based coding community run by the Scratch Foundation where members share projects, remix each other's work, curate studios, and comment. Scratch says it is designed primarily for 8 to 16 year olds, although people of all ages use it, so many profiles belong to young people and the site's privacy rules reflect that.

Username and URL behavior

Usernames are 3 to 20 characters of letters, numbers, hyphens, and underscores, with no spaces and no real names. Owners cannot change them; the Scratch Team makes a change only in rare cases, such as a username that contains personal information. Links to a profile work regardless of capitalisation.

Links and account details

A profile header shows Scratcher or New Scratcher status, how long ago the account joined, and a country. Below it are the About me and What I'm working on text, a featured project, shared projects, favourites, followers, studios, and a comment wall. A consistent project style and a long join history are better signals than a similar name.

Common impersonation pattern

Because a Scratch username is permanent, a copycat has to register a new name that differs from a popular Scratcher's by a character or a suffix, and may claim to be that person's alt account. Check the join date and project history, and look for the original Scratcher confirming any alt on their own profile.

How to report a concern

Click Report on the profile, project, comment, studio, or discussion post. For anything complicated, use Contact Us at the bottom of every Scratch page and include links, as the Scratch Help Center explains.

Scratch Verification Checklist

Check the profile

Check the spelling letter by letter. Hyphens and underscores are easy to miss, but capital letters don't matter.
Where you can, open the profile from a project or studio the person is known for rather than from a pasted link.
Note the join date and Scratcher or New Scratcher status before comparing projects.
If you are a parent checking a child's account, start from the username the child gives you.

What to do with the results

Save the /users/ URL and screenshots of the profile header and recent comments.
Keep links to the specific projects or comments that concern you.
Report inappropriate content from the page it appears on rather than replying to it.
Remember that asking a Scratcher for accounts on other sites runs against Scratch's own guidelines.
Use ProfileTrace to see where the same username appears on ~4,000 sites, for example when reviewing your own or your child's footprint. Because Scratch discourages linking accounts, a match elsewhere is only a shared name unless the owner confirms it.

Checks and reporting on Scratch

Signs of a copied account

A new account using a popular Scratcher's name plus a number, underscore, or suffix.
Someone pushing to continue a conversation on another app, which Scratch's guidelines ask members not to share.
Requests for a real name, school, hometown, or contact details in comments or projects.
An account claiming to be an alt of a well-known Scratcher without that Scratcher confirming it.

Check the account

Compare the What I'm working on text and featured project with what the person has told you.
Check who follows the account and which studios it curates or contributes to.
If someone claims an alt account, look for the main account mentioning it on its own profile.
Read the Scratch Help Center on usernames before assuming a name was changed; owners cannot change it themselves.

Report a copied account

Copy the profile, project, or comment URL and take a screenshot.
Click Report on that profile, project, comment, studio, or discussion post.
For a situation that needs explaining, use Contact Us at the bottom of any Scratch page and include links.
See what to do if you find something inappropriate on Scratch.

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