Why is Gmail not displaying the friendly from name in some emails?
Matthew Whittaker
Co-founder & CTO, Suped
Published 6 May 2025
Updated 17 Aug 2025
6 min read
It can be incredibly frustrating when you send an email, expecting your carefully chosen friendly from name to appear, only for Gmail to display something else, often just the raw email address. This isn't just a minor cosmetic issue, it directly impacts your brand's recognition and the trust recipients place in your messages.
While it might seem like a straightforward problem, the reasons behind Gmail's inconsistent display of the friendly from name can be complex, involving everything from how the recipient has your contact saved to the intricate workings of email authentication and forwarding.
The mechanics behind the friendly from
The friendly from name, as defined by RFC 5322, is the human-readable part of the sender's identity, such as "Your Brand" or "John Doe", preceding the actual email address. It's designed to give context and build immediate recognition in the recipient's inbox. Without it, your emails can look less professional and even suspicious, potentially hurting engagement.
One of the most common reasons Gmail might not display your friendly from name is due to the recipient's personal contacts. If a recipient has your email address saved in their Google Contacts, Gmail often prioritizes that saved name over the one you specify in your email header. This is an intentional feature designed to personalize the inbox experience for the user.
Incorrect syntax in the From header itself can also be a culprit. For instance, if your friendly from name contains special characters or spaces and is not enclosed in double quotes, Gmail might struggle to parse it correctly, leading to it defaulting to showing just the email address. While many email clients are forgiving, strict parsing can cause issues.
Furthermore, if an email is forwarded, especially through certain email systems or client-side rules, the original From header (including the friendly from name) might be stripped or altered by the forwarding server. This often results in the recipient seeing the email address instead of the friendly name, as the email is essentially re-sent from the forwarding account.
Sender's intent
Your objective is to have a consistent and recognizable brand name appear in the inbox, building trust and engagement with every message sent. This is crucial for initial impressions.
Brand identity: Reinforce your brand name with every email a recipient sees in their inbox.
Trust and recognition: Make it easy for recipients to identify your emails quickly and feel safe opening them.
Gmail's display behavior
Gmail aims to provide the most relevant and secure inbox experience, sometimes prioritizing factors like recipient contact data or perceived sender legitimacy over the specified friendly from name.
Contact overrides: User's saved contact names take precedence, leading to unexpected display names.
Header parsing: Strict adherence to RFCs, or deviations from expected norms, can cause fallbacks.
Authentication and forwarding impacts
Email authentication protocols such as SPF, DKIM, and DMARC are fundamental to establishing sender legitimacy. While these primarily aim to prevent spoofing and phishing, a robust authentication setup can indirectly influence how Gmail treats your email headers, including the friendly from name. A weak or failing DMARC policy, especially if set to p=none, might be a contributing factor to the inconsistent display behavior, although it's rarely the sole cause. Conversely, strong authentication helps build a positive sender reputation that encourages correct display.
Email forwarding is another significant factor. When an email is forwarded, the forwarding mail server often acts as an intermediary, which can sometimes break the original email authentication. This breakage, combined with the forwarding server's own header rewriting processes, can lead to the friendly from name being removed or replaced by the forwarding address. This is particularly noticeable with Gmail's own forwarding rules.
The issue can manifest randomly, appearing for some recipients or specific emails but not others, even from the same sender. This inconsistency makes troubleshooting challenging, as the problem might not be reproducible across all test environments or recipients. Factors like cached recipient data, the specific email client used, or even the timing of the email can play a role.
While less common, other technical aspects can contribute to the problem. These include the use of non-standard characters (like unicode or emojis) in the friendly from address, which Gmail might not interpret correctly, or specific configurations of the sending MTA (Mail Transfer Agent) that deviate from established RFCs. Checking the raw email headers for discrepancies is always a good first step.
Ensuring consistent display
When your friendly from name is not displaying as expected, it's essential to review your email authentication and forwarding configurations. Even minor missteps can lead to unexpected behavior in the recipient's inbox. Strong authentication is critical for consistent sender identity.
DMARC alignment: Ensure your DMARC records are correctly configured and that your SPF and DKIM authentication aligns with your From domain. This can impact how well Gmail trusts your sender information.
Forwarding transparency: Be aware that forwarding can alter headers. If possible, advise recipients to add your sending address to their contacts directly to help Gmail recognize your preferred friendly from.
Factors influencing Gmail's display behavior
Beyond the technical configurations on the sender's side, Gmail, like other mailbox providers, employs sophisticated algorithms to determine how to display sender information. These algorithms consider a variety of signals, including sender reputation, past engagement with your emails, and spam complaint rates. A lower sender reputation, or being listed on a common blacklist (or blocklist), might prompt Gmail to display the raw email address as a security measure.
Gmail also has character limits for how much of the friendly from name it will display in the inbox view. If your friendly from name is excessively long, Gmail might truncate it or, in some cases, revert to displaying the email address. This is also why generic or suspicious-looking names might be overridden. As Campaign Monitor noted, Gmail cuts off addresses at around 20 characters in some views.
Finally, individual recipient settings and cached data can influence how the friendly from name appears. If a recipient previously received emails from your address with a different friendly from name, or if their client (including Gmail's web or mobile app) has old information cached, it can lead to inconsistent display, even if your current email headers are perfectly configured.
Factor
Impact on friendly from display
Troubleshooting suggestion
Recipient contacts
Gmail prioritizes the name saved in the recipient's Google Contacts
Ask recipients to update your contact entry.
From header syntax
Incorrect formatting (e.g., missing quotes for names with special characters) can cause issues.
Ensure your friendly from name is correctly formatted according to RFC 5322 standards.
Email forwarding
Forwarding servers (including Gmail's) can strip or alter original headers, impacting display.
Educate recipients about this behavior; focus on direct deliverability.
The friendly from name is a critical component of your email marketing and communication strategy, serving as the immediate identifier for your brand in the inbox. When Gmail (or any other email client) fails to display it correctly, it can erode recipient trust and decrease open rates.
While issues can sometimes stem from recipient-side settings or email forwarding, it's crucial for senders to ensure their technical configurations are impeccable. This includes proper SPF, DKIM, and DMARC authentication, correct From header syntax, and a generally good sender reputation.
Continuous monitoring of your email deliverability and periodic testing of your friendly from name across various Gmail accounts can help you quickly identify and address any display issues, ensuring your brand is always represented accurately.
Views from the trenches
Best practices
Ensure your 'From' header includes the friendly name properly quoted if it contains special characters or spaces. Example: From: "Your Brand" <your@example.com>.
Strongly encourage recipients to add your sending email address to their Google Contacts to ensure the desired friendly name is always displayed.
Maintain excellent sender reputation by avoiding spam triggers and focusing on sending relevant, engaged content to prevent Gmail from defaulting to the email address display.
Regularly monitor your DMARC reports for any authentication failures that might subtly impact how Gmail perceives and displays your sender information.
Common pitfalls
Not quoting friendly names with spaces or special characters, leading to Gmail parsing errors and fallback to the email address.
Overlooking the impact of email forwarding rules, especially Gmail to Gmail forwarding, which can strip the friendly from name.
Assuming that a correct 'From' header alone guarantees display, without considering recipient contact overrides or sender reputation.
Ignoring DMARC alignment, which, while not a direct cause, contributes to Gmail's overall trust in your sending domain.
Expert tips
Always test your friendly from name display on different Gmail accounts and devices, including both webmail and mobile apps, to catch inconsistencies.
If an email is forwarded, explain to the recipient that the display name might change due to the forwarding service's behavior.
Consider the length of your friendly from name, as excessively long names can be truncated or replaced by Gmail.
For critical communications, advise recipients to explicitly add your email to their address book as a safeguard.
Marketer view
Marketer from Email Geeks says clients reported their 'friendly from' names were suddenly not displaying in Gmail, despite configurations appearing correct on their end.
2021-12-02 - Email Geeks
Expert view
Expert from Email Geeks says they found no instances of friendly from failures in their extensive Gmail 'hamtrap' accounts, indicating the issue might be inconsistent or specific to certain conditions.
Google Contacts
