Amazon’s voice assistant goes by the name Alexa. If you want to change this, you can also use a different activation word.

Alongside Apple’s Siri and the Google Assistant, Amazon’s Alexa is one of the most popular intelligent helpers among users. The voice assistant can control smart home devices on demand, play music or podcasts, set the alarm and much more. Consumers can assign a different activation word to it with just a few taps and thus give it a new name, so to speak. If you wish, you can also easily change the assistant’s voice – and make her an assistant.

Change Alexa’s wake word

Many users use Alexa via a smart loudspeaker – for example via one of the models from Amazon’s own Echo series. To change Alexa’s name for devices without a display, you need the “Amazon Alexa” app, which is available for iOS and Android, among others. You change the activation word under the menu item “Devices” and then “Echo and Alexa”.

All devices that are in use for users are listed there. Several loudspeakers can also be addressed with different names, for example. After a tap on the corresponding speaker and the gear symbol, users will find the settings. The sub-item “activation word” appears here.

There are currently five options to choose from. In addition to “Alexa”, there are also “Amazon”, “Echo” and “Computer”. For a few weeks now, the assistant can also be activated with “Ziggy”. Once the selection has been made, users usually only have to wait a few seconds before the speaker can be addressed with the new name.

With the Echo Show, which has a display, users can alternatively set the whole thing directly on the device. To do this, swipe down from the top of the screen and select “Settings” or just say “Alexa, go to Settings”. The name of the assistant can also be changed here under the sub-items “Device options” and “Activation word”.

change the voice

Regardless of the wake word, users can also change Alexa’s voice from female to male. This is even easier on all devices. The command “Alexa, change your voice” is already sufficient for the changeover.

There are also several celebrity alternatives for votes in the US. There, Alexa reacts to users as Hollywood star Samuel L. Jackson (73), as his colleague Melissa McCarthy (51) or as basketball legend Shaquille O’Neal (50). However, it is not known whether these options will ever come to Germany.