UC Davis recognizes that many students may use a name other than their legal name. Therefore, the university provides students an opportunity to choose to identify themselves with a lived name in addition to their legal name. It is understood that the student's lived name should be used in university communications and reporting, except where the use of the legal name is necessitated by university business or legal requirement. This lived name will appear instead of legal name in the UC Davis Campus Directory. As of September 23, 2023, the student information system and other major systems will display a student’s lived name. It is expected that all systems will be accepting the lived name by December 31, 2023, to be compliant with the University of California's Gender Recognition and Lived Name policy. Some records, such as paychecks or financial aid, that require the use of a legal name, will not change to the student’s lived name.

You may specify your lived name by editing the UC Davis Campus Directory. Updating your lived name in the directory will result in this name being propagated to university systems. Please note that it may take a few days for your lived name to appear in certain systems. The University reserves the right to remove a lived name if it contains inappropriate or offensive language or is being used for misrepresentation.

You should be aware that campus systems populating a lived name could include ones for which you have granted access to family or other third party (for example, MyBill). Furthermore, all communications, including those to your home address, will be addressed to your lived name.  By the end of Fall 2023, official academic transcripts and diplomas will allow for the use of either your lived or legal name.