For web security purposes, it’s recommended that you don’t set up sites using the username “admin”.
This is the default installation user name for WordPress and one of the first areas of potential vulnerabilities hackers look for when attempting to break into WordPress websites and blogs.
In this tutorial, we’ll show you how to change the WordPress admin user name from ‘admin’ to a more secure username.
Changing Your WP User Name From Admin To Another User Name
Generally, on a new WordPress website installation, the first registered user is also the admin of the website.
The default WordPress username admin is not recommended, as it puts your blog at risk of being hacked …
Let’s change your admin user name in WordPress to a more secure username.
There are a number of ways to view your username details after logging into your administration area:
Select the Users > All Users screen in your main menu …
Click either on your username, or click on the Edit link when hovering over the username with your mouse …
Or, select Edit My Profile from the “Howdy, User” dropdown menu at the top-right hand corner of your admin area …
You can also visit your “Profile” section by selecting Users > Your Profile from your admin sidebar menu.
What you will discover in the Profile area, however, is that user names can’t be changed from your backend admin section …
So, how can you change a username?
Change Admin Username By Creating A New Admin User
If your admin login is “admin,” here’s the easiest way to change your user name without going into your server:
Click Add New to create a new user …
Next, create a better user name, and assign this new user the role of “Administrator”. Save your changes to update your settings …
You should now have a new admin user with a new username, together with the 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 …
Select Users > All Users in the main menu …
Delete your old administrator account …
Select the option to attribute all content owned by the old admin account and reassigned it to the new admin, then confirm the deletion of the old user account …
You are now left with only the new Admin account, effectively changing your WordPress admin user name …
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 your WordPress user name inside the WordPress database.
All you need is admin access to your server.
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 Change Your Username Inside The WordPress Database
In the example below, we’ll be working with the cPanel management application …
cPanel
Log into your server control panel …
cPanel admin area
Navigate to the “Databases” section and click on phpMyAdmin …
phpMyAdmin
Open up your WP database.
Note: If you have a number of databases set up on your domain, make sure you select the right one …
phpMyAdmin databases
Don’t worry about the complicated-looking information on your screen screen.
Click on wp_users …
The user name 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 username and click outside the edit box to update the field with your new username …
Log out of your server when you’re finished and return to your WordPress site. You may find that your session has expired. Log in again with your new Admin login details …
You should see that your user name is now updated. However, your admin details will probably still be displaying the old “nickname” …
To change the “nickname”, access your Users screen and click on the Edit link below the username …
You can also access your Profile section if you click on the Edit My Profile link in the “Howdy, User” screen …
Choose 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 the WordPress admin user name on your website or blog.
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