Alexa finally gets a new name and a new voice: how to change them on your Amazon Echo

The digital assistant I’ve always called Alexa has a new name – Ziggy – and a new uniquely masculine voice. You are free to mix – and remix – these options however you like, as there are separate settings for voice and wake word (and one is unrelated to the other).

This isn’t the first time you’ve had options – Alexa already had other, uh, “names” (if you can call them that). You can already configure your Echo device to respond to “Amazon”, “Echo” or “Computer” as well as “Alexa”.

But “Ziggy” is the first Last name name to appear as an option next to “Alexa”. Although some have suggested that “Ziggy” denotes a “masculine” name, I’m not so sure. To me, it brings to mind David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust character – an androgynous alien from the future, sent to help Earth. Coincidence? But I digress …

Anyway, even though the AI ​​that powers Amazon Echo smart speakers are known colloquially as Alexa – and the voice that has so far embodied these speakers sounds uniquely feminine – if you ask, Alexa will tell you, “As an AI, I don’t. have no sex. “

Of course, the three celebrity voice options you can pay to put on your Amazon Echo device – Samuel L. Jackson, Melissa McCarthy, and Shaquille O’Neal – are all gendered. But these add-ons don’t replace everything Alexa says – just a few selected responses, like weather, timers, and a few more.

How to change your Echo’s wake-up call to “Ziggy”

The “wake word” is the name you say aloud to invoke Amazon’s digital voice assistant. The steps are the same whether you want to change it to “Ziggy” or any of the other options. There is the easiest way – say, “Alexa [or whatever your current wake word is], change your wake word “, then respond to one of the choices offered by Alexa. Then there’s the hard method:

1. Open the Alexa app, then tap Devices in the bottom menu bar, tap Echo and Alexa at the top, then tap the name of the device whose activation password you want to change.
2. Press the Settings icon (gear) in the upper right corner, then scroll down and press Wake up word, and then tap the one you want to use.
3. A pop-up will warn you that the effect may take a few minutes – tap Okay.

How to change your Echo’s voice (to work with any wake-up word)

Just like with the wake word, there is a simple way: “Alexa, change your voice.” Your Echo device will confirm using the new voice. If you switch to the male sounding voice, you will also be told how to change the wake word. Then there is the difficult method:

1. Repeat steps 1 and 2 above, but instead of Wake up word, faucet Alexa’s voice.
2. Choose between Original (female-sounding) and News (male-sounding), then just come back out of that frame.

There you go, you still don’t have a lot of options (Google Home, for example, has multiple voices to choose from, although only one wake word possible), but you have more than ever.