How to use text characters in name?

[ooJenny]

Hi everyone.  I want to start a new account, but all of the names that I like are taken.  I see alot of people in sl have odd text characters in their names, but it escapes me how to do it.  I've tried bringing up the character map and pasting some of those characters into the name and it is never accepted on the sign up screen.  Yet there they are, with various text characters in their names.

Can someone please tell me how this is done?  Thanx!

[Qie Niangao]

Are you sure you're seeing these "odd text characters" in their names, and not merely in their display names?

An account can set a new display name… I forget, but I think it's once a week or something like that, maybe more often for Premium Plus subscribers, not sure about that. But generally those names are much less restrictive about unicode text than the actual account names that need to be "safe" for display. (For practice, display names should have similar unicode tolerance as the titles that can be assigned to group roles.)

[Alwin Alcott]

3 hours ago, ooJenny said:

Hi everyone.  I want to start a new account, but all of the names that I like are taken.  I see alot of people in sl have odd text characters in their names, but it escapes me how to do it.  I've tried bringing up the character map and pasting some of those characters into the name and it is never accepted on the sign up screen.  Yet there they are, with various text characters in their names.

Can someone please tell me how this is done?  Thanx!

next to the free name change Qie already mentionesd, what's better than free
there is also a paid name change, in this case you can get a first and last name, if you want to spend the money for it, have a look at your account page.
Next to the paid name, it's also possible to use the free form next to it.

Minor point in the free displayname is that others still can see your username.

[Bree Giffen]

The sign up page only allows regular roman alphabet characters. You need to create a new avatar with a regular name and when you go into SL you can change the ‘display name’ which can use special unicode characters. Some of these special characters may not be seen correctly by everyone. 

[Claireschen Hesten]

I don't think i've ever seen an account name use any characters other than the standard letters/numbers infact the sign up page says it only accepts letters/numbers. you can use non standard characters, unicode and ascii in display names not everything will work, i would advise not using it as it can make your chosen name unreadable

[Ceka Cianci]

I looked the other day and it only allows regular letters and numbers.. Display names you can go to town and get crazy with those..