Reusing organization name that was previously deleted

[s-saens]

Discussion Type

Question

Discussion Content

I am going to establish my business with name A.
Several momths ago I made an organization with name A and removed it.
And few later, I tried to make it with the same name A, but it did not work.
I thought it would be possible as the previous organization with that name was deleted, and the name is not occupied by anything.

It took about a month after the deletion, but still cannot do it. I want to make the organization with the exact name A without any variation. So any way to make it possible?

[adityaax]

As far as I know, GitHub does not immediately release deleted organization names for reuse. Even if the organization no longer exists publicly, the name may remain reserved for an extended period of time or in some cases indefinitely—to prevent impersonation and confusion.

If you were the owner of the original organization, your best option is to contact GitHub Support and explain that you created, owned, and deleted the organization and would like to recreate it using the same name. They can tell you whether the organization can be restored or if the name is permanently reserved.

Unfortunately, if GitHub has reserved the name, there is usually no way for users to reclaim it on their own.

[s-saens]

Thank you so much for your answer!!

[maheerCodes]

hey @s-saens 👋 .
adityaax's advice is solid,,, one thing worth adding specifically to your situation :
github actually has a 90-day organization restore window ,,, if you deleted the org yourself(rather than it being deleted for a tos violation),,,github keeps the data recoverable for 90 days after deletion.since you said its been "about a month" since deletion ,,,you might actually stilll be within that restore window.

this matters a lot for your case :

• if youre still within 90 days ,,,contacting suppport and asking them to restore the original org(rather than create a new one with the same name)might actually be possible ,,and that would give you back the exact name without needing to wait for a release that might not happpen at all.
• after the 90-day window passes,,, restoration is no longer possible and the name situation becomes what adityaax described,,,,permanently reserved or released at githubss discretion,with no guaranteed timeline,

so id specifically frame your support request as**"can my deleted organization 'A' still be restored within the 90-day window"**rather than just asking about name availability,,,that's a more concrete / actionable request for their team and gives you a real shot at getting the exact org back (with its original data too, not just the name)rather than starting fresh .

worth checking the exact deletion date to confirm youre still inside that window before reaching out💙💙💙💙 .

[addy0328p]

Skip the waiting game — just open a GitHub Support ticket, mention you're the original owner, and ask them to release the name for your new business org. That's the fastest and most reliable path.

Your options:

Contact GitHub Support directly — this is your best bet. Since you previously owned that org name, GitHub support can manually release and reassign it back to you. Go to support.github.com → explain you're the original owner and want to reclaim it for your business. They've done this for legitimate cases.
Wait longer — there's no official published timeline, but some users report names freeing up after 90 days. You're at ~1 month, so it might still release on its own.
Nothing else works — there's no self-serve way to force-release a reserved org name. No workaround, no API trick.

HOPE IT HELPS!!🙃🙃

[s-saens]

Thank you so much for your answer!!

[maheerCodes]

youre welcome @s-saens💙💙💙hope the support team can get you that exact name back, good luck with the businesss launch !