A name attached to the wrong face can make a photo collection misleading even when every photograph is intact. Start with an image where you can confidently identify the people, and distinguish an incorrect name assignment from two separate groups that genuinely show the same person.

Use Photos on macOS Tahoe 26 for the current Collections layout described here. Choose a small set of known photographs, including one with several people in the frame. Confirm identities from reliable personal knowledge or an appropriate source rather than guessing from a resemblance.

Open the photograph and use View, Show Face Names, or the Info window. For a name you added to the wrong face, Control-click its circle and choose This is Not [name]. To name the intended person, use the name beneath the face, or add and position a face circle in Info, then enter the verified name.

In Collections, People & Pets, multiple groups for the same person can be selected and merged. That operation requires confidence that the groups share an identity. Review More Photos offers Yes or Not for suggested additions. With iCloud Shared Photo Library, Apple specifies Both Libraries for viewing People & Pets.

Check the assignment on the photograph first

Inspect which face the circle actually surrounds before accepting the name. In a group photograph, a correct name positioned over the neighbouring person still creates an incorrect record. Check other already named faces in that image without changing them unnecessarily.

Then inspect several pictures in the person’s collection. Use different ages, angles or events where you have reliable identification. A group’s cover picture alone does not establish that every image belongs to that person.

If two people share a name, keep that ambiguity visible in your naming convention. Do not merge their groups simply because the text labels match. The purpose is to represent the people in the photographs, not to minimise the number of entries.

Review suggestions selectively

Accept additional suggestions only when you can identify them. Leave uncertain images for later investigation rather than filling the collection with plausible guesses. After correcting a label, return to the original group photograph and confirm that both the intended person and the untouched neighbour remain correctly named. Keep the photographs themselves; fixing an identity label does not require deleting the underlying media.

Reference: Apple: naming people and pets in Photos.