Examples
Series

In [1]:
import numpy as np
import pandas as pd
In [2]:
s = pd.Series(["lion", "fox", "monkey"])
s
Out[2]:
0      lion
1       fox
2    monkey
dtype: object

In [3]:
s.rename_axis("animal")
Out[3]:
animal
0      lion
1       fox
2    monkey
dtype: object

DataFrame

In [4]:
df = pd.DataFrame({"num_legs": [4, 4, 2],
                   "num_arms": [0, 0, 2]},
                  ["lion", "fox", "monkey"])
df
Out[4]:
num_legs num_arms
lion 4 0
fox 4 0
monkey 2 2
In [5]:
df = df.rename_axis("animal")
df
Out[5]:
num_legs num_arms
animal
lion 4 0
fox 4 0
monkey 2 2
In [6]:
df = df.rename_axis("limbs", axis="columns")
df
Out[6]:
limbs num_legs num_arms
animal
lion 4 0
fox 4 0
monkey 2 2

MultiIndex

In [7]:
df.index = pd.MultiIndex.from_product([['mammal'],
                                       ['lion', 'fox', 'monkey']],
                                       names=['type', 'name'])
df
Out[7]:
limbs num_legs num_arms
type name
mammal lion 4 0
fox 4 0
monkey 2 2
In [8]:
df.rename_axis(index={'type': 'class'})
Out[8]:
limbs num_legs num_arms
class name
mammal lion 4 0
fox 4 0
monkey 2 2
In [9]:
df.rename_axis(columns=str.upper)
Out[9]:
LIMBS num_legs num_arms
type name
mammal lion 4 0
fox 4 0
monkey 2 2