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I use the web interface for Gmail regularly and recently noticed that one of my contacts (let's call him Jim Smith) has a Google+ account attached to his email address...and I cannot remove the damn thing! It might be OK if his Google+ account had the name Jim Smith, but unfortunately he has decided to give his Google+ account the quirky name Metal Raw-Star, dunno why.

The big problem now comes when I try to type an email. In the To field, none of the following find my contact:

* Jim
* Smith
* Jim Smith

Even though this is the contact name! If I type Metal or Raw then Gmail finds the contact and inserts the email address.

If you look at the image below, I've named my contact (green), but when I enter his email (pink) Google links to the Google+ profile (blue)...and I cannot email the contact by his actual name anymore!

Gmail contact linked to Google+ profile with different name

This Google+ profile is confusing and not relevant to me. How can I unlink it from my contact? I have tried creating a new contact, but the instant I type in his email, the Google+ profile gets reconnected to the contact. This might all just be an annoyance if Gmail would just let me find my contact by the name I have assigned to him. I do not have control over what he decides to name his Google+ profile.

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    Looks like I've found a partial solution. In the Contact, add a Nickname to the contact with the text Jim Smith. Return to Gmail and you will now be able to find the contact by name. Return to the contact and delete the Nickname field and the contact should still work. The Google+ profile is still linked, though.
    – AlainD
    Commented Feb 10, 2016 at 9:41
  • Looks like I stumbled on part of the answer because the accepted answer to this SuperUser question (webapps.stackexchange.com/questions/54297/…) has basically the same advice => Add a Nickname!
    – AlainD
    Commented Feb 10, 2016 at 9:54
  • This is amazing. Basically you can link a random photo to anyone's profile without their permission, as long as they don't already use G+?
    – RomanSt
    Commented Oct 6, 2017 at 7:28

4 Answers 4

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This post helped me with the same problem: https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/gmail/guDL_NmcTk4

Basically, I used the old Contacts UI to change contact name.

  1. Open Gmail Contacts
  2. On the left side, click More
  3. Click Leave the Contacts preview (this brings you to old UI)
  4. Edit contact
  5. Save
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Solution:

  1. Just go to the linked Google+ profile and set "Block profile" (next to "About me").
  2. Reload your Contacts-Page.
  3. Now there's no connection between your contact and the wrong Google+ profile.
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The other suggestions did not work for me. I could only make it work by doing the following:

  1. Block the person's Google profile: open Google+ (https://plus.google.com), open the profile of the person you want to block, click "More" (the three vertical dots, on the bottom) and then Block or Block profile;
  2. Delete the existing contact in your Gmail Contacts (copy the email address!);
  3. Create a new contact (add them to Groups if they were in there);
  4. Sign out of Gmail;
  5. Sign in to Gmail.
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I added a contact, name N and email correct. His google+ page is fine, name is N. But his company C has a google+ page also and his email was the contact email, the page had a company logo. Whenever i addressed an email and typed in his name in the TO field it changed to the company name C and company logo, not his real name.

I solved it my going to google contacts web page, and searching for his name. The search listed my contact entry and the company google+ entry. I deleted the company entry. The contact was not changed, and emails addressed to him now shows his name N, no company logo.

I tried the nick name thing (suggested here) and it didn't work in this case. Made no difference.

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