How do I give Nova a different name?

Goal

Give the assistant a name of your own and set how she addresses you.

Before you start

• This is in Simple.

Steps

1. Settings, Appearance, the Avatar tab, card Look.
2. At the top, under Appearance, are Female and Male. The field below is Assistant name.
3. Type the name into the field, up to 40 characters. Empty means Nova again. The change saves itself.
4. Next to it is Your name (for prompts). This is how Nova addresses you. Left empty, Nova uses the name of your Mac user.
5. In Expert, the same field is under Models & automatic, the General tab, card Chat & agent, as Assistant name. Both fields show the same name.
6. Setup already asks for the name, in the field Assistant name. You change it here later.

Example

Set Assistant name to “Mila” and ask the avatar: “What’s your name?”

Common problems

• The wake word stays Hey Nova. The name does not change the bundled model. See How do I turn on “Hey Nova”?
• If nothing comes after the wake word, Nova says: “Didn’t catch that — say “Hey Nova” again and then speak.” Even with your own name the message says Hey Nova. With a custom Wake Word model it says “say your Wake Word again”.
• Pages, menus, and the app are still called Nova. The name applies to replies and how Nova addresses you.
• Switching between Female and Male keeps the name.