Guide
How Minecraft name drops work
A Minecraft: Java Edition username that someone gives up does not become free at once. It is held for 37 days and then released to whoever asks for it first. That release is a name drop, and this page explains when it happens, why nobody can tell you the exact second, and what you need to have ready to claim one.
The 37-day rule
When a player changes their Java Edition username, two clocks start. The player cannot change their name again for 30 days. Their old name is reserved for 37 days, during which nobody else can take it. Put together, the previous owner has roughly one week, from day 30 to day 37, in which they alone can switch back. If they do not, the name is released on day 37 and anyone with a Java Edition account can claim it.
Nothing announces the release. Mojang does not publish a list of names about to become available, and the profile of the old owner simply shows their new name. The only way to know a name is on its way is to have noticed the rename when it happened.
Why a drop has a window, not an exact time
The drop happens exactly 37 days after the rename, so knowing the drop time means knowing the rename time. Nobody outside Mojang sees that moment. What can be seen is that a name had an owner at one look and no longer had one at the next. The rename happened somewhere in between, and so the drop will happen somewhere in the same span, 37 days later.
That span is the window shown next to every name on our list of upcoming drops. A window of four minutes means the name was looked at four minutes apart around its rename. A window of several hours means the looks were further apart, and the name can drop at any point inside it.
What makes a name worth waiting for
A username must be 3 to 16 characters long and can only use letters, digits and the underscore. There are only 50,653 possible three-character names, and 99.98% of them have an owner (see the figures), which is why a short name becoming available is rare and contested. The same goes for common words, first names and other names players call OG: short, clean, with no digits padding them out.
How to claim a name when it drops
- Check that your account can change its name. If you changed your username in the last 30 days, you cannot change it again yet, and a drop inside that time will pass you by.
- Know the window. Find the name on the list, or type it in the search box, and note when its window opens and closes in your local time.
- Be on the name change page before the window opens. Sign in at minecraft.net, open your profile and go to the Java Edition profile name. The page tells you whether the name you typed is available.
- Try throughout the window. Until the drop, the name shows as unavailable. The first request after the release gets it, and for a wanted name many people are trying at the same time.
Be careful with services that ask for your Minecraft or Microsoft password to claim a name for you. Handing over your sign-in details puts the whole account at risk. Everything described here is done from Mojang's own website with your own account.
When a drop does not happen
A listed drop is an estimate, not a promise. The previous owner can take the name back before day 37, in which case it never becomes available and we remove it from the list. Mojang also blocks some names outright: they show as free of any owner but cannot be claimed by anyone. And a name can be claimed by someone else seconds after it drops, which from the outside looks the same as it never dropping at all.
Checking whether a name is taken
The search box on the home page answers for any name we have looked at: taken, available, not allowed by Mojang, or about to drop with its window. The answer is as recent as our last look at that name, which the result shows, so an available name may have been claimed since. For names longer than the ones we scan, the name change page of your own Minecraft profile is the authority.