For better website security, avoid creating WordPress sites with the user name “admin”.
This is the default installation user name for WordPress and one of the first vulnerable areas of website security hackers will test with a WordPress web site.
In this tutorial, you will learn how to change your WordPress admin username to a more secure user name.
By default, on all new WordPress website installations, the first registered user is usually the administrator.
Having the default WordPress user name admin is not recommended, as it creates a security risk to your WordPress site …
Let’s change the WordPress admin user name to a more secure username.
There are several ways to view your username details inside your administration area:
Select the Users > All Users section in the main menu …
Click either 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 at the top-right hand corner of your admin area …
You can also go to your “Profile” screen by selecting Users > Your Profile from the admin sidebar menu.
What you will discover when you get into the Profile page, however, is that your username can’t be changed from your Dashboard …
So, how can you modify the WordPress admin username?
If your admin login is “admin,” here’s the easiest way to change the user name without accessing your server:
Click Add New to add a new user …
Next, create a new user name, and assign your new user account the role of “Administrator”. Save your changes in order to update your settings …
You have now created a new admin user …
Log out of your WordPress admin area …
Log in with the new admin details for the user you have just created …
You should see your new user name details displayed in the “Howdy, User” panel …
Click on Users > All Users in the main menu …
You can now delete the old administrator account …
Choose the option to assign all content owned by the old user account and reassigned it to your new user, then confirm the deletion of the old account …
You are now left with only the new Admin account, effectively changing your WordPress admin user name …
Another easy way to change the username is to use a plugin like the one shown below.
(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!)
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)
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)
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 intended for non-technical WordPress users, let’s go one step further and show you how to change your username 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:
In the example below, the server uses the cPanel management software …
cPanel
Log into your server control panel …
cPanel administration area
Navigate to the “Databases” section and click on phpMyAdmin …
phpMyAdmin
Open up your WordPress database.
Note: If you have multiple databases set up on your domain, make sure you choose the correct one …
phpMyAdmin databases
Don’t panic when you see 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 simply 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 a new user name …
Log out of your server if you’re done and go back to your WordPress site. You may find that your session has expired. Log in again with your new Admin username and password …
You will see that the user name has been updated. However, your site will probably still display the old “nickname” …
To change the “nickname”, open your Users screen and click the Edit link below the username …
You can also get to the Profile section if you click on the Edit My Profile link in the “Howdy, User” section …
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 username and nickname …
Congratulations! Now you know how to change your WordPress admin user name on your website or blog.
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"This is AMAZING! I had learnt about how to use WordPress previously, but this covers absolutely everything and more!! Incredible value! Thank you!" - Monique, Warrior Forum