Gmail eases rule on email addresses

For more than 20 years, Gmail, the world's largest email account provider, has made it easy for users to change the username on their email accounts.

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But if a user wanted to keep all their data and services like YouTube or Google Drive connected to their @ gmail account, the email address itself always had to stay the same.

Some users like those who have been holding onto the same account names since they were teenagers, or people who have changed their names wished that they were not locked into a state of permanence.

In recent days, though, Google has quietly started to roll out a way for users to change their Gmail addresses ending with @gmail.com, and keep all their emails no matter how old their account.