What Is the 37-Day Rule for Minecraft Names?

If you've ever waited for a name to "drop," you've run into the 37-day rule. It decides when a name someone just gave up can be claimed by somebody else, and it explains a lot of confusion about why a name you want isn't free yet.

What is the 37-day rule?

The Minecraft Wiki puts it simply: when a player changes their username, the previous username becomes available for other users to claim after 37 days.

So if your friend changes away from a name today, nobody else can take it for a little over five weeks. Not you, not anyone. The clock starts on the day of the change.

The same wiki page notes the other rule that matters here: a player can change their username no more than once every 30 days.

What happens during the 37 days?

Put those two rules together and the 37 days break into three parts:

A side effect the wiki points out: since you can change names every 30 days and old names are held for 37, a player can switch back and forth and keep both names without losing either.

Is it 30 days or 37 days?

Both numbers are real, they just mean different things.

• 30 days is how long a player must wait between name changes.
• 37 days is how long an old name is held before anyone else can claim it.

People often say "names drop after 30 days," but that's only half of it. On day 30 the old owner can switch back, and nobody else can take the name until the 37-day hold ends.

What happens on day 37?

Once the hold ends, the name goes back into the open pool. From then on, whoever changes to it first gets it, whether that's you, someone else who was watching, or the old owner.

That doesn't mean you'll get it. If a name is popular, other people may be counting the days too. And there's no queue: being the first person to notice is not the same as being the first to claim. Claim only through your own official Minecraft profile settings on minecraft.net, never through a service that wants your login.

How do I work out when a name frees up?

Count 37 days from the day the old owner changed away from it. The tricky part is knowing that start date. Mojang no longer offers a public name-history lookup, so unless you saw the change happen, you're often estimating.

A simple approach:

1. Note roughly when the name was given up.
2. Add 37 days.
3. Check the name daily as that date gets close.
4. Expect some uncertainty, because your start date may be off.

One catch with checkers: during the hold, the old name isn't attached to any profile, so a lookup can show it as "appears unclaimed" before you can actually take it. Read how to check if a Minecraft name is available for what each result means.

Before you wait five weeks for a name, it helps to know if it's worth it. Type it into namenab to see what names like it are listed at and what a buyer would likely pay. If nobody holds it at all, it has no resale value: you might be able to just claim it.

Are there exceptions, and why does this matter for trades?

One exception: the wiki notes that if a player has an old username shorter than 3 characters and changes it, that name is gone for good and can't be claimed again. The same goes for old names with symbols. New names must be 3 to 16 characters.

Why it matters for trades: the 30-to-37-day window is how a lot of name deals go wrong. If a seller "hands over" a name by changing away from it, they can switch back before the hold ends, and the buyer is left with nothing. This is called a clawback, and it's one of the biggest risks in the market. Read how to avoid name scams and namenab's safety page before going near a deal.

Buying or selling accounts and names also goes against Mojang's terms. namenab reports what names are worth; it never claims, buys or moves names for anyone. To see what a name is worth right now, check it on namenab.