How To Change The Admin Username In WordPress

The default WordPress username admin poses a security risk to your WordPress site. Learn how to change the admin username in WordPress for improved security …

WP For BeginnersFor better web security, avoid creating a WordPress site using the user name “admin”.

This is the default installation username for WordPress and one of the leading causes of brute force attacks on a WordPress website or blog.

Changing Your Admin Username In WordPress

In this tutorial for non-technical users, you will learn how to change the WordPress admin user name from ‘admin’ to a more secure user name.

Changing Your WordPress User Name From Admin To A Different User Name

Normally, with a new WordPress website installation, the first registered user is the admin of the website or blog.

Having the default WordPress user name admin is not recommended, as it poses a security risk to your WordPress site …

How To Change Your WP User Name From Admin To A More Secure User Name

Let’s change the admin user name in WordPress to a more secure username.

There are a number of ways to access your “Profile” section after logging into your WP backend admin area:

Select the Users > All Users page in your main menu …

How To Change Your Admin User Name In WordPress

Click either on the user name, or click on the Edit link when hovering over the username with your mouse …

How To Change Your Admin Username In WordPress To A More Secure Username

Or, select Edit My Profile from the “Howdy, User” drop-down menu near the top-right hand corner of your screen …

Changing Your WP Username From Admin To A More Secure Username

You can also go to your “Profile” section by selecting Users > Your Profile from the admin menu.

What you will see when you get into the Profile area, however, is that usernames cannot be changed inside your Dashboard …

How To Change Your WP Admin User Name To Another Username

So, how do you edit a admin 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 going into your server and modifying your WordPress database:

First, let’s create a new user …

Changing Your WP Admin Username To A Different User Name

Next, create a better user name, and assign your new user account the role of “Administrator”. Save your changes in order to update your settings …

Changing Your Admin User Name In WordPress

You have now created a new admin user …

How To Change Your Admin Username In WordPress To Another Username

Log out of your WordPress admin area …

How To Change Your WordPress Username From Admin To A More Secure User Name

Log in with the new admin details for the user you have just created …

Changing Your WP User Name From Admin To Another Username

You should see your new user name details in the “Howdy, User” panel …

Changing Your Admin User Name In WordPress To Another User Name

Select Users > All Users in the main menu …

Changing Your Admin User Name In WordPress

You can now delete your old user account …

How To Change Your WordPress Admin User Name

Select the option to assign all content owned by the old admin account and reassigned it to your new admin, then confirm the deletion of the old user account …

How To Change Your WordPress Username From Admin To A Different Username

You are now left with only the new Admin account, effectively changing your WordPress admin username …

How To Change Your WP Username From Admin To Another 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)

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

(Install the plugin)

After installing the plugin, click the ‘Activate’ button …

Activate the plugin

(Activate the plugin)

Configuring The Plugin

After installing and activating the plugin, go to Settings > Username Changer

Settings - Username Changer menu

(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

(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

(Username Changer Settings – Email notifications)

Using The Plugin

To change your username, go to Users > Your Profile

Users - Your Profile menu

(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

(Click on ‘Change Username’ link)

The ‘Username’ field will become editable. Change your username and click the ‘Save Username’ button …

Save your new username

(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

(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

(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

(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

(Username changed)

To learn more about this plugin, go here: Username Changer

Important

Although this tutorial is really designed for non-technical WordPress users, let’s go one step further and show you how to change your WordPress username inside the WordPress database.

All you need is admin access to your server.

Tip

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 User Name Inside The WordPress Database

For our example, the server uses cPanel …

How To Change Your WP User Name From Admin To Another Username

cPanel

Log into your server control panel …

Changing Your WP Admin Username

cPanel admin area

Navigate to the “Databases” section and open phpMyAdmin

Changing Your WordPress User Name From Admin To A More Secure User Name

phpMyAdmin

Click on your WP database.

Note: If you have a number of databases set up on your domain, make sure you choose the right one …

How To Change Your WordPress User Name From Admin To A More Secure User Name

phpMyAdmin databases

Don’t worry about the technical-looking nature of the information on your screen.

Click on wp_users

How To Change Your Admin User Name In WordPress

The username is located in the “user login” column. To edit the user name simply double-click on this text you want to change …

Changing Your Admin User Name In WordPress

Type in the new username and click outside the edit box to update the field with your new username …

Changing Your Admin Username In WordPress

Log out of your server if you’re done and reopen the browser to your WordPress site. You may find that your session has expired. If so, log in again with your new Admin user name and password …

Changing Your WP Admin Username To A More Secure User Name

You should see that your user name has been updated. However, your admin details will probably still be displaying the old “nickname” …

How To Change Your WP Admin Username To Another Username

To change your “nickname”, access your Users screen and click on the Edit link below your user name …

Changing Your WP Admin Username

You can also reach the Profile section if you click on the Edit My Profile link in the “Howdy, User” section …

How To Change Your WordPress Admin User Name To Another User Name

Select a new name to display publicly from the drop-down menu …

Changing Your WordPress Admin User Name To A More Secure User Name

Useful Tip

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 …

How To Change Your Admin Username In WordPress

Click Update Profile to save your new settings …

Changing Your WP Username From Admin To A More Secure User Name

You admin area is now updated with a new username and nickname …

How To Change Your WP Admin Username

Congratulations! Now you know how to change the WordPress admin username on your website.

How To Change Your WP Admin User Name

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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)