Screenshot 1 of 1. MinecraftHub-generated cover art for Name Color: a floating grassy block island with server racks, under a night sky
What Name Color works with.
| Platform | Java Edition |
|---|---|
| Loaders | Paper, Purpur, Spigot |
| Minecraft versions | 1.16, 1.16.5, 1.17.1, 1.18.2, 1.19.4, 1.20.6, 1.21.11, 26.1.2, 26.2, 26.3 |
Name Color is a name color plugin for Minecraft servers running Paper, Purpur or Spigot, with older Bukkit releases also published. It lets players color their chat names, set nicknames and apply gradients, with hex/RGB values and text styles such as bold, italic, underline and strikethrough. It runs on the server only, so players join with nothing extra installed.
Server software and versions
- Paper, Purpur and Spigot: Minecraft 1.16 to 26.3. The newest build needs no dependencies.
- Bukkit: Minecraft 1.16 to 26.1.2, builds stopped after August 2025. The newest build needs no dependencies.
Commands and permissions
Four commands cover the whole plugin. Adding a player's username at the end of any of them applies it to that player, and every command accepts hex/RGB.
- /namecolor sets a name color.
- /gradient applies a gradient to a name.
- /nick sets a nickname.
- /whois is available to players who hold namecolor.whois.
Each feature sits behind its own permission node. The ones you will use most:
- namecolor.set and namecolor.set.others for your own and other players' colors.
- namecolor.set.style for bold, italic and other styles on name colors.
- namecolor.nick, namecolor.nick.others and namecolor.nick.color for nicknames and colored nicknames.
- namecolor.gradient and namecolor.gradient.other for gradients.
- namecolor.filter.bypass to skip nickname filters, and namecolor.* for everything.
Setup and storage
Drop the plugin file into the plugins folder and restart, as covered in how to install plugins on a Paper or Spigot server. The newest release needs no other plugins. The behaviour is customizable, MySQL and MariaDB storage are supported, and there is an Essentials integration.
Name Color changes players' display names, so PlaceholderAPI with its Player expansion can show them elsewhere through %player_displayname%. Run /papi ecloud download Player to install the expansion, then /papi reload.
The trade-off is documentation and licensing. Detailed command usage lives on the creator's wiki, and the repository has no licence file.
Name Color demo
Questions about Name Color.
4 questions
How do I install Name Color on my server?
Place the plugin file in the plugins folder of a Paper, Purpur or Spigot server and restart it. The newest release has no dependencies. Players do not install anything, since the plugin runs only on the server. Then grant the namecolor permission nodes to the players or groups who should use it.
Can I use hex colors in nicknames?
Yes. All commands support hex and RGB values. Colors and styles in nicknames are controlled by the namecolor.nick.color permission, so players without that node cannot add formatting to the nicknames they set.
Does Name Color work with PlaceholderAPI?
Yes. The plugin modifies display names, so PlaceholderAPI's Player expansion can read them. After installing the expansion and reloading PlaceholderAPI, you can use %player_displayname% to show the colored name or nickname.
Can Name Color store data in a database?
Yes. MySQL and MariaDB are supported according to the creator's description. The plugin also integrates with Essentials.
