For better security, avoid installing WordPress sites with the user name “admin”.

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

In this tutorial, you will learn how to change your WordPress admin user name to a more secure username.

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

Normally, in all new WordPress sites, the first registered user is the administrator.

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

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

There are several ways to access your “Profile” section and view your user name details after logging into your WordPress Dasboard area:

Click on the Users > All Users section 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” drop down menu at the top-right hand corner of your admin area …

You can also access your “Profile” section by selecting Users > Your Profile from your Dashboard side menu.

What you will see in the Profile area, however, is that your user name cannot be changed inside the Dashboard …

So, how can you modify your WordPress admin user name?

Change Admin Username By Creating A New Admin User

If your user name is “admin,” here’s the easiest way to change your username without going into your server:

First, create a new user …

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

You have now created a new user with the role of 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 your main menu …

Delete your old user account …

Choose 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 designed 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 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:

• How To Perform A Global Search And Replace In WordPress

Changing A Username Inside The WordPress Database

In the example below, we’ll be working with the cPanel management software …

cPanel

Log into your server control panel …

cPanel administration area

Find the “Databases” section and click on phpMyAdmin …

phpMyAdmin

Click on your WordPress database.

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

phpMyAdmin databases

Don’t panic when you see the complicated-looking information on your screen screen.

Click on wp_users in the left-hand column …

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

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

Log out of your server if you’re finished and reopen the browser to your WordPress site. You may find that your session has expired. Log in again with your new administration details …

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

To change the “nickname”, open your Users area and click the Edit link below your username …

You can also get to the Profile section by clicking 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 user name and nickname …

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

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