How to Rename Your MacBook

This is another blog entry in the #ReminderToSelf category.

I got a new MacBook an wanted to change its hast name since I find “Stephan’s Mac” not terribly inspiring.

Since joining the Oceanography department at the University of Bremen (years, nearly two decades ago), I find ocean names are the way to go. — Even more so since I started open water swimming not that long ago.

Here’s what I tried first:

1. Set the name in the Mac’s system setting under “General” ➙ About:
   
2. Set it in the “Sharing” part as well:
   

Interestingly, that didn’t seem to be enough, the command line prompt still showed the computer’s default name.

However, there’s a command line tool that allows setting these kinds of information `scutil’:

> scutil --get HostName
atlantic
> scutil --get ComputerName
atlantic
> scutil --get HostName
atlantic

This command can also set these names by using --set instead of --get.