Should I name the username field in my user table "name" or "username"?

Question

If I name it username then I would have to write user_username when referring to my field when I can just write user_name if it's named "name". On the other hand, username sounds more appropriate than name.

Can someone help me make a decision?

Answer 1

Another possible option is login

Answer 2

But you can also try nickname.

Answer 3

username, it's more specific and won't get mixed up with proper human names.

Here's a tip: while you're there, it's a good idea to decide on the proper name columns early - first_name and last_name or surname and given_name or whatever. It doesn't really matter, but it's a right pain when tables are inconsistent.

Answer 4

You should call it username.

The field name (or user_name if you are prefixing all fields with the table name) is ambiguous because it might be their real name, which is usually different from their username.