For security purposes, avoid setting up sites with the username “admin”.
This is the default installation user name for WordPress and one of the first vulnerable areas of website security that hackers look for when attempting to break into the WordPress platform.
In this step-by-step tutorial for non-technical users, we’ll show you how to change your WordPress admin user name to a more secure user name.
How To Change Your WP Admin Username
Generally, on a new WordPress site installation, the first registered user is usually the administrator.
Having the default WordPress user name admin is not recommended, as it can out your blog at risk of being hacked …
Let’s change your admin user name in WordPress from ‘admin’ to a more secure username.
There are a number of ways to view your username details after logging into your administration area:
Click on the Users > All Users screen in your main menu …
Click on your user name, or click on 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 screen …
You can also access your “Profile” page by selecting Users > Your Profile from your admin sidebar menu.
You will discover when you get into the Profile page that your username cannot be changed from the Dashboard …
So, how do you change a username?
Change Admin Username By Creating A New Admin User
If your WordPress admin login is “admin,” here’s the easiest way to change the user name without accessing your server and touching files or your WordPress database:
First, create a new user …
Next, create a more secure username, and assign your new user account the role of “Administrator”. Remember to save your changes in order to update your settings …
You will now see a new admin user with a new username, and your original user name (i.e. “admin”) …
Log out of your WordPress admin area …
Log in with your new admin details …
You should see your new user name details in the “Howdy, User” screen …
Click on Users > All Users in your main menu …
You can now delete the old user account …
Choose the option to assign all content owned by the old user account and reassigned it to the new user, then confirm the deletion of the old admin 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 aimed for non-technical WordPress users, let’s go one step further and show you how to change a WordPress user name 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 A Username Inside The WordPress Database
In this example, the server uses cPanel …
cPanel
Log into your server admin account …
cPanel administration area
Navigate to the “Databases” section and open up phpMyAdmin …
phpMyAdmin
Open up your WordPress database.
Note: If you have multiple databases set up on your domain, make sure you choose the correct one …
phpMyAdmin databases
Don’t panic when you see the complicated screen.
Click on wp_users …
The user name is located in the “user login” column. To edit the user name just double-click on this text you want to change …
Type in the new username and click outside the edit box to update the field with the new username …
Log out of your server if you’re finished and reopen the browser to your WordPress site. You will probably find that your session is expired. Log in again with your new Admin details …
You will see that your user name is now updated. However, it will probably still display the previous “nickname” …
To edit your “nickname”, access your Users area and click the Edit link below the user name …
You can also reach the Profile section by clicking on the Edit My Profile link in the “Howdy, User” box …
Select a new name to display publicly from the dropdown 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 username on your website or blog.
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"If you're new to WordPress, this can stand on its own as a training course and will stay with you as you progress from beginner to advanced and even guru status." - Bruce (Columbus, Ohio)