Recently at work, after I had started making changes to a Git repository on a branch, I needed to
rename that branch to share it with others. When I’m working by myself on something I tend to name
branches mhn/topic - my initials followed by some relevant topic. Not wanting to share a branch
with multiple other developers that has my initials in it, I needed to rename it.
Step 1. Switch to the local branch you want to rename
git checkout <old_name>
Step 2. Rename the local branch like so
git branch -m <new_name>
Step 3. If the branch has already been pushed to the remote repository, then delete the old_name
remote branch
git push origin --delete <old_name>
Step 4. Push the new branch name and reset the upstream branch
git push origin -u <new_name>
You have now successfully renamed your Git branch.