• by Mark Walsh  @markfwal, July 23, 2009

You may be stuck with your birth name, but at least now you can change your Facebook username. When the social network announced in June that it would let users select custom names for vanity URLs, they were warned to choose carefully because the name would be theirs for good -- no changes or transfers allowed.

Once someone had confirmed their name choice on Facebook, it could not be altered even to correct a misspelling. But it appears the company has softened its stance, giving users an opportunity to change their usernames.

ReadWriteWeb reported Thursday that Facebook is offering a new option on the account settings page under "username" that allows people to make the switch -- but only once. A Facebook spokesperson confirmed the added option, since "some users might not have chosen the name they want permanently."

Why would anyone need to change their username already? Inside Facebook points to examples of people who chose names without consideration of future job prospects or took a friend's name as a practical joke.

Others who selected trademarked names have already had them revoked by Facebook after being notified by rights holders. (Facebook reserves the right to remove or reclaim any username at any time for any reason.) In any case, the only potential downside to getting another crack at a Facebook name is that pickings have gotten slimmer. As Mashable points out, millions of usernames were taken just within the first few days of their availability -- leaving a smaller pool to draw from, especially after brands with less than 1,000 fans were also allowed to get vanity URLs in late June.