Channel Strategy & Niche
Channel name
Also called: channel title
Your channel carries two identifiers. The handle is the unique @ address nobody else can hold, and the name is the display name at the top of the page, which does not have to be unique at all. Changing the name is allowed twice in any fourteen days and affects YouTube only; the Google account behind it keeps its own name and picture.
There is a sting for verified channels. Changing the name removes the verification badge, and the channel has to qualify again to get it back. Factor that into any rebrand, along with the fact that everybody searching for the old name will carry on doing so for months.