Rename a Column in a Table in a SQL Server Database

This is a very simple script I am sharing today. A sqlservercurry.com user mailed me and asked me the simplest way to rename a column. Well here’s the query I have been using all along

USE Social;
GO
EXEC sp_rename 'dbo.Person.PersonName', 'PersonNm', 'COLUMN';
GO

This query renames the Column ‘PersonName’ in the Person table to ‘PersonNm’. Be careful while you do so, as you may affect Stored Procedures that use the column. Infact, when you run the query shown above, a caution gets displayed in your SQL Server Management Studio warning you of the change.

Caution: Changing any part of an object name could break scripts and stored procedures.