For web security purposes, avoid creating a WordPress site using the user name “admin”.
This is the default installation username for WordPress and one of the first areas of potential vulnerabilities hackers look for when attempting to break into the WordPress platform.
In this tutorial, we’ll show you how to change the WordPress admin username from ‘admin’ to a more secure username.
Changing Your Admin User Name In WordPress To A More Secure User Name
Normally, in all new WordPress sites, the first registered user is also the admin of the website or blog.
Having the default WordPress user name admin is not recommended, as it puts your WordPress site at risk …
Let’s change the admin user name in WordPress from ‘admin’ to a more secure user name.
There are several ways to access your “Profile” section inside WordPress:
Select the Users > All Users screen in the main menu …
Click either on your user name, or the Edit link when hovering over the user name with your mouse …
Or, select Edit My Profile from the “Howdy, User” menu near the top-right hand corner of your Dashboard …
You can also visit your “Profile” page by selecting Users > Your Profile from the admin sidebar menu.
What you will see in the Profile page, however, is that you cannot change usernames inside your Dashboard section …
So, how can you change your username?
Change Admin Username By Creating A New Admin User
If your username is “admin,” here’s the easiest way to change your user name without going into your server:
Click Add New to add a new user …
Next, create a new username, and assign the new user the role of “Administrator”. Save your changes in order to update your settings …
You will now have a new admin user with a new username, together with your original username (i.e. “admin”) …
Log out of your WordPress admin area …
Log in with your new admin details …
You should see your new username details displayed in the “Howdy, User” screen …
Select Users > All Users in the main menu …
You can now delete the old user account …
Select the option to assign all content owned by the old admin account and reassigned it to the new user, then confirm the deletion of the old user account …
You are now left with only the new Admin account, effectively changing your WordPress admin username …
Change Admin Username Using A WordPress Plugin
Another easy way to change the username is to use a plugin like the one shown below.
Username Changer
(Username changer)
Username Changer is a free WordPress plugin that lets you easily change your admin username (and allow other users to change their usernames too!)
Installing The Plugin
To install the plugin from your WordPress dashboard, go to Plugins > Add Plugins and type in “username” into the Keyword search field (if you need help see our tutorial on installing WordPress plugins).
There are several plugins you can use to perform a similar function. Locate the Username Changer plugin and click on ‘Install Now’ …
(Install the plugin)
After installing the plugin, click the ‘Activate’ button …
(Activate the plugin)
Configuring The Plugin
After installing and activating the plugin, go to Settings > Username Changer …
(Settings – Username Changer menu)
This brings you to the ‘Settings’ screen.
Here, you can allow other user roles to change their usernames too (be careful about doing this!) …
(Username Changer Settings – Allowed Roles)
You can also configure email notifications (if you choose to allow users to change their usernames) …
(Username Changer Settings – Email notifications)
Using The Plugin
To change your username, go to Users > Your Profile …
(Users – Your Profile menu)
Scroll down to the ‘Name’ section and you will see a ‘Change Username’ link next to the grayed out username field. Click on this link to change your username …
(Click on ‘Change Username’ link)
The ‘Username’ field will become editable. Change your username and click the ‘Save Username’ button …
(Save your new username)
Changing your username will log you out of your WordPress admin area. You will need to log back into your WordPress site.
Click on the link to log back in …
(Click on the link to log back in)
Log back into your site with your new username (note: your password should remain the same) …
(Log back in with your new username)
Note: If you don’t click on the link to log back in you will find yourself logged out of your site …
(Changing your username will expire your session)
After logging back into your site, go to your User Profile section and you will see that your username has been changed.
(Username changed)
To learn more about this plugin, go here: Username Changer
Although this tutorial is mostly intended for non-technical WordPress users, let’s go one step further and show you how to change a WordPress username inside the WordPress database.
All you need is admin access to your server’s control panel.
To learn how to search and replace content in your WordPress database without touching code or editing WordPress database tables, see the tutorial below:
Changing Your Username Inside The WordPress Database
For the example below, the server is using the cPanel management tool …
cPanel management software
Log into your server administration account …
cPanel administration area
Navigate to the “Databases” section and open up phpMyAdmin …
phpMyAdmin
Open up your WordPress database.
Note: If you have a number of databases set up on your domain, make sure that you select the right one …
phpMyAdmin databases
Don’t panic when you see the complicated screen.
Click on wp_users in the “Table” column on the left-hand side …
The username is located in the “user login” column. To edit the field just double-click on the text you want to change …
Type in the new user name and click outside the edit box to update the field with a new user name …
Log out of your server if you’re done and return to your WordPress site. You will probably find that your session has expired. If so, log in again with your new Admin login details …
You will see that your username has been updated. However, your site will probably still display the old “nickname” …
To edit the “nickname”, open your Users area and click the Edit link below your username …
You can also reach the Profile section if you click on the Edit My Profile link in the “Howdy, User” panel …
Select a new name to display publicly from the drop-down menu …
Note: You can also create a new Nickname in the Nickname field and it will then be available for selection in the Display name publicly as drop-down menu …
Click Update Profile to save your new settings …
You admin area is now updated with a new username and nickname …
Congratulations! Now you know how to change the WordPress admin user name on your website.
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