RIDEGURU
This would most likely be after the background check with Uber, of course. Uber would be aware of what my real name is. I am thinking more for hiding my real name from random strangers for safety purposes.
As a driver, can I use an alias, a different name, instead of the real name? For safety.
Posted 6 years, 9 months ago
Posted In
Ask a RideGuru
Questions from riders and drivers answered by our Ride Gurus and Rideshare Experts
Posted By
DonutDrivers
246
Driver
Driver
Ride Apprentice
Popular Links
- Maximum Ridesharing Profits
- Fare Estimator
- Rideshare 101
- Sign up for UberAd
- Sign up for Uber EatsAd
- Sign up for Lyft - $5 offAd
Hot Forum Topics
The Guru Take
No, you may not use an alias. However, only the first name is shown.
No, Uber nor Lyft allows aliases to be used. Drivers, as well as riders, must use their real names, as part of building a trust and accountability in the community. With that said:
- Only your first names are shown to others.
- You can request for a "nickname". However, you must make a request and the nickname must "make sense" and cannot be completely different. They take shortened version of your first name (Srini for Srinivas), various nicknames (say Chuck for Charles), using your middle name or last name as the nickname, etc.
- As a rider, your name is not shown when a ride request goes out to the drivers. This is to discourage potenteial discrimination. Read more here:
ippei
1202
Uber Driver, CEO of TaxiFareFinder and Unleashed, LLC
Comments
Racists passengers, man. Don't get me started. ...but I do get it. My name sounds like a terriorist. No denying there.
I am not sure if I get more cancellations than others or not. Driving in NYC, most other UberBlack drivers have Middle East terrorist names, so I don't feel like I stand out.
Yeah, sorry, Syed.
You bring up an interesting point i never saw before. Uber hid passenger information to prevent drivers from cherry picking but you are saying passengers can cherry pick too.
Interesting indeed.
Let's flip this. If you were driving someone and he didn't want to tell you who he was, how would you feel about that? Someone who had a reason to hide their identity. Not cool, right?
This is what's great about Uber. Let's not ruin it.
yeah, but taxis did this since beginning of time.
Right, and it was one of the most dangerous occupation ever.
What are you afraid of?
I am a new driver with Lyft and am extremely concerned that my profile shows my full name. I am female. When I signed up to drive, I provided my full name to the company for obvious reasons, they need to verify who I am, however, I always assumed that my full name would be private to the company only and not public.
I do not want my last name showing to passengers and neither the app or the website will allow me to edit my name. When I called support, I was told that passengers are not shown my last name, only my first name, but it bothers me that it is showing at all when a male friend of mine who drives for Lyft does NOT have his last name showing in his app profile!
How do I know for sure that passengers aren't seeing my last name??