Facebook has just rolled out a slightly easier way to apply for a name change for your Fan page. If the name of your business has changed, or there is a misspelling, or you find it’s just too long, or not consistent with the name on your website, you can apply for a change.

*(This info was updated on 12/12/12)

• To apply for a change, navigate to your Fan page.
• In the Admin Panel, select > Edit Page > Update Info.
• This will take you to the “Basic Info” tab where, about 1/3 of the way down you’ll see the current name of the page and the link “Request Change.” (Not a button, but a link).
• You can being the process of applying for a name change on the follow-on screen.

• Fill in the form with your current Page name
• The Page name you would like to use instead.
• Indicate the reason for the request in the drop down menu.
• If choosing “Other” from the drop down menu, add an explanation in the box.
• To expedite the process upload an image, pdf or text file to support the request for the change.

So far, Fan page owners are reporting that submitting the change is fairly painless, and the request normally goes through smoothly within a couple of days. In all the Fan pages I investigated, I did not see the option to “Request a name change” in the “Help” drop down when pages had 200 fans or less, that’s because with fewer than 200 fans, you can make these changes yourself without applying to Facebook for the change.

Keep in mind that Facebook is not able to change the URL (web address) for your Page at this time. Perhaps they will in the future. If 123 Bed and Breakfast changes its name to 789 Bed and Breakfast, the old Facebook custom URL will remain facebook.com/123bandb.