For improved security, it’s highly recommended that you do not install WordPress sites with the user name “admin”.
This is the default installation username for WordPress and one of the leading causes of brute force attacks on WordPress.
In this step-by-step tutorial for non-technical WordPress users, we’ll show you how to change the WordPress admin user name from ‘admin’ to a more secure user name.
How To Change Your WP Admin User Name
Normally, with all new WordPress sites, the first registered user is also the site administrator.
Having the default WordPress user name admin is not recommended, as it can out your blog at risk …
Let’s change your admin username in WordPress from ‘admin’ to a more secure user name.
There are several ways to view your user name details after logging into your administration area:
Select the Users > All Users screen in the main menu …
Click on the username, or the Edit link when hovering over the username with your mouse …
Or, select Edit My Profile from the “Howdy, User” menu near the top-right hand corner of your admin area …
You can also access your “Profile” area by selecting Users > Your Profile from your Dashboard side menu.
What you will discover in the Profile page, however, is that user names can’t be changed from your administration section …
So, how can you change a admin user name?
Change Admin Username By Creating A New Admin User
If your WordPress admin login is “admin,” here’s the easiest way to change your user name without accessing your server and touching your WordPress database:
Click Add New to add a new user …
Next, create a better user name, and assign the new user account the role of “Administrator”. Save your changes to update your settings …
A new admin user should now be displaying …
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 your main menu …
You can now delete your old administrator account …
Select the option to attribute all content owned by the old admin account and reassigned it to your 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 a WordPress username 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:
Changing A Username Inside The WordPress Database
In the example below, the server is using cPanel …
cPanel management software
Log into your server administration account …
cPanel administration area
Scroll down to the “Databases” section and open up phpMyAdmin …
phpMyAdmin
Click on your WordPress database.
Note: If you have multiple databases set up on your domain, make sure you choose the right one …
phpMyAdmin databases
Don’t panic when you see the complicated screen.
Click on wp_users in the left-hand column …
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 user name and click outside the edit box to update the field with the new user name …
Log out of your server when you’re done and go back to your WordPress site. You may find that your session is expired. Log in again with your new Admin details …
You should see that your username has been updated. However, your admin details will probably still be displaying the previous “nickname” …
To choose a new “nickname”, go to your Users area and click on the Edit link below your username …
You can also access the 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.
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"This is an awesome training series. I have a pretty good understanding of WordPress already, but this is helping me to move somewhere from intermediate to advanced user!" - Kim Lednum