Email Terminology

Username vs. Mailname

USERNAME:  a unique designation needed for accessing electronic accounts.

UCSD Academic Computing and Media Services (ACMS) assigns an 8-character username according to the following rules:

1. [first initial of first name] + [first 7 characters of last name]
   
   
2. If the above username is already assigned, then
   [first initial of first name] + [first initial of middle name] + [first 6 characters of last name]
   
   
3. If #2 is taken, then a combination of numbers and names are used
   [first initial of first name] + [incremental number] + [first 5-6 characters of last name]

MAILNAME:  resembles a username, but is more user-friendly. It contains the entire last name of user (even when the last name is > 7 characters) and is easier to remember.

Email Account vs. Email Address

EMAIL ACCOUNT: Users registered for email service at UCSD are associated with a particular departmental email server.

The email account address takes the form: [username@deptservername.ucsd.edu].

The MedEd Email server that medical students and SOM graduate students are registered on is called "meded-stuexchange.ucsd.edu" .

The MedEd Email server that MedEd staff are assigned to is called "meded-staexchange.ucsd.edu".

You may use your email account address if you choose, but there is a shorter alternative - the email Address described below.

EMAIL ADDRESS: The email address is a shortened version of your actual email account and is sometimes called your "email alias".  It takes the form: [mailname@ucsd.edu].