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 increased online security, it’s safer to not install a WordPress site with the user name “admin”.

This is the default installation user name for WordPress and one of the leading causes of brute force attacks on WordPress.

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

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

How To Change Your WordPress Admin Username To Another User Name

By default, in a new WordPress site, the first user is also the admin.

The default WordPress user name admin is not recommended, as it can pose a security risk to your WordPress site …

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

Let’s change your WordPress admin user name from ‘admin’ to a more secure user name.

There are a number of ways to view your user name details after logging into WordPress:

Select the Users > All Users section in the main menu …

Changing Your Admin User Name In WordPress To A Different Username

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

Changing Your WP User Name From Admin To Another Username

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

How To Change Your WordPress Admin User Name To Another Username

You can also visit your “Profile” page by selecting Users > Your Profile from the Dashboard menu.

You will discover when you get into your Profile page that usernames cannot be changed from your Dashboard …

Changing Your WP Admin User Name

So, how can you change the WordPress admin user name?

Change Admin Username By Creating A New Admin User

If your WordPress user name is “admin,” here’s the easiest way to change this without accessing your server:

First, let’s create a new user …

How To Change Your Admin Username In WordPress

Next, create a better user name, and assign your new user the role of “Administrator”. Remember to save your changes to update your settings …

Changing Your WP Username From Admin To A More Secure Username

You have now created a new user with admin privileges …

Changing Your Admin Username In WordPress

Log out of your WordPress admin area …

Changing Your WordPress Admin Username

Log in with your new admin details …

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

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

Changing Your WP Admin User Name

Click on Users > All Users in the main menu …

Changing Your WordPress User Name From Admin To Another User Name

Delete your old administrator account …

Changing Your WordPress Admin Username To Another Username

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

Changing Your Admin User Name In WordPress

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

Changing Your WP 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)

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

Info

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

All you need is admin access to your server.

Useful 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 A User Name Inside The WordPress Database

For our example, we’ll be working with the cPanel management software …

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

cPanel management application

Log into your server control panel …

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

cPanel admin area

Scroll down to the “Databases” section and open up phpMyAdmin

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

phpMyAdmin

Open up your WordPress database.

Note: If you have multiple databases set up on your domain, make sure that you select the correct one …

Changing Your Admin User Name In WordPress

phpMyAdmin databases

Don’t panic when you see the complicated screen.

Click on wp_users

How To Change Your WordPress Admin Username

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

Changing Your WP Admin User Name

Type in the new user name and click outside the edit box to update the field with a new user name …

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

Log out of your server when 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 login credentials …

Changing Your Admin Username In WordPress To A Different User Name

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

Changing Your WP Username From Admin To A More Secure Username

To change your “nickname”, open your Users section and click the Edit link below the user name …

Changing Your WP User Name From Admin To Another User Name

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

How To Change Your WP Admin Username To A Different User Name

Select a new name to display publicly from the dropdown menu …

How To Change Your WordPress Admin Username 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 …

Changing Your WordPress Admin Username To A Different User Name

Click Update Profile to save your new settings …

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

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

Changing Your Admin Username In WordPress To Another User Name

Congratulations! Now you know how to change the WordPress admin user name on your website or blog.

How To Change Your WordPress Admin Username

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