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For various compatibility reasons, I would like my usernames to be standard no-spaces combinations, so jbloggs / jdoe / etc. This becomes unsightly when displaying blogs ("jdoe's blog") or node authorship ("15/09/2016 jbloggs").

I've added first/last name fields to the account, but can't find a way to have them displayed by default instead of the username. I am on Drupal 8, so Profile2 isn't yet ready, which means this answer isn't an option. Likewise, this answer proposes using the "Real Name" module, which doesn't have a D8 version.

If it's any help, I would basically like the full name used in every display context, so if there's a blanket solution that would do that, rather than giving me control by node-type, that would be more than acceptable.

Lastly, if the above isn't possible without a module, can someone point me to some info on referencing account/profile fields in twig? That way I could at least override it in the most prominent places using templates.

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2 Answers 2

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I'd add a new field called Display Name (or similar), then then use hook__user_format_name_alter() to load in that field, and change the display name to use the field value instead of the user name.

Here's the change record for D7 -> D8, where it used to be hook_username_alter(): https://www.drupal.org/node/1408514

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  • Thanks for the tip on which hook to look at. Unfortunately, the $account variable passed in (type: UserSession object) only contains the standard fields and not the custom ones. Any ideas on how to get it to read in the additional data fields?
    – almcnicoll
    Sep 15, 2016 at 23:34
  • OK, so I implemented it with a database query in the end. Probably not The Drupal Way, but it worked and that's what I needed. Would still love helpful comments about The Right Way To Do It!
    – almcnicoll
    Sep 16, 2016 at 0:05
  • all you have to do is go to the user profiles configuration , then the manage fields section and add a text field named "name" , then for the display you can customize the template and output the name field where you want it to be
    – Malek Massoudi
    Sep 16, 2016 at 0:09
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    what you have to do is load the user entity with User::load($account->id()) to be sure that you always have an entity with the fields. not that it might be the anonymous user as well.
    – Berdir
    Sep 16, 2016 at 7:05
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Drupal now has a module that does exactly what you're looking for, Real Name:

https://www.drupal.org/project/realname

I just used it recently. Once configured, it uses tokens to allow you to rewrite the username to appear pretty much any way you want it to.

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