SQL Server rename column names

Question

I have the following query that gathers the column names for a table:

SELECT COLUMN_NAME 
FROM theDBNameHere.INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COLUMNS 
WHERE TABLE_NAME = 'markers'

That works just fine giving me the needed column names of that table. However, I want to rename the column names to something else. I tried the following:

SELECT  venueID AS 'Venue ID', 
        venueEventDate AS 'Venue Date', 
        venueCounty AS 'Venue County', 
        venueAdvocate AS 'Venue Advocate', 
        venueSpanish AS 'in Spanish', 
        lastUpdated AS 'Last Updated', 
        updatedBy AS 'Updated By', 
        SysSrcLoadDt AS SysSrcLoadDt 
FROM theDBNameHere.INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COLUMNS 
WHERE TABLE_NAME = 'markers'

The error it tosses to me is pretty much saying

Invalid column name 'venueXXXXXXXX'

How would I go about changing the default column name with using the query above? Is this even possible to do in the first place?

Answer 1

If you want only column names:

SELECT  venueID        AS [Venue ID], 
        venueEventDate AS [Venue Date], 
        venueCounty    AS [Venue County], 
        venueAdvocate  AS [Venue Advocate], 
        venueSpanish   AS [in Spanish], 
        lastUpdated    AS [Last Updated], 
        updatedBy      AS [Updated By], 
        SysSrcLoadDt   AS [SysSrcLoadDt] 
FROM markers
WHERE 1 = 2  -- column headers only, comment if you want rows also

or as Sean Lange proposed in comment:

SELECT  '' AS [Venue ID], 
        '' AS [Venue Date], 
        '' AS [Venue County], 
        '' AS [Venue Advocate], 
        '' AS [in Spanish], 
        '' AS [Last Updated], 
        '' AS [Updated By], 
        '' AS [SysSrcLoadDt] 
WHERE 1 = 2;

LiveDemo

EDIT:

If you wanted names in one column:

SELECT *
FROM (VALUES ('Venue ID'), ('Venue Date'), ('Venue County'),
     ('Venue Advocate'), ('in Spanish'),  ('Last Updated'),
     ('Updated By'), ('SysSrcLoadDt') ) AS t(column_name);

LiveDemo2

Output:

╔════════════════╗
║  column_name   ║
╠════════════════╣
║ Venue ID       ║
║ Venue Date     ║
║ Venue County   ║
║ Venue Advocate ║
║ in Spanish     ║
║ Last Updated   ║
║ Updated By     ║
║ SysSrcLoadDt   ║
╚════════════════╝

Answer 2

May be you need the CASE statement

SELECT  CASE WHEN COLUMN_NAME = 'venueID'
             THEN 'Venue ID'
             WHEN COLUMN_NAME = 'venueEventDate'
             THEN 'Venue Date'
             WHEN COLUMN_NAME = 'venueCounty'
             THEN 'Venue County'
             -- do the rest of columns here
            END AS COLUMN_NAME
FROM theDBNameHere.INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COLUMNS 
WHERE TABLE_NAME = 'markers'

Answer 3

If you need to rename column names, use the Alter table and Rename Column keywords...

ALTER TABLE table_name
RENAME COLUMN old_name to new_name;