For improved web security, don’t set up a WordPress site with the username “admin”.
This is the default installation user name for WordPress and one of the leading causes of brute force attacks on the WordPress platform.
In this step-by-step tutorial for non-technical WordPress users, we’ll show you how to change the admin username in WordPress from ‘admin’ to a more secure username.
Changing Your WordPress Username From Admin To Another Username
By default, with all new WordPress installations, the first user is also the admin.
The default WordPress user name admin is not recommended, as it poses a security risk to your WordPress site …
Let’s change the admin username in WordPress to a more secure user name.
There are a number of ways to access your “Profile” section inside your WordPress admin area:
Click on the Users > All Users screen in your main menu …
Click 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” drop-down menu near the top-right hand corner of your admin area …
You can also go to your “Profile” section by selecting Users > Your Profile from the admin sidebar menu.
What you will discover when you get into the Profile page, however, is that user names cannot be changed from the Dashboard …
So, how can you edit the 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 the user name without going into your server:
Click Add New to create a new user …
Next, create a better user name, and assign the new user the role of “Administrator”. Remember to save your changes to update your settings …
You will 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 displayed in the “Howdy, User” screen …
Click on Users > All Users in the main menu …
Delete your old administrator account …
Select 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 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 really 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.
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 Your User Name Inside The WordPress Database
In the example below, we’ll be working with the cPanel management application …
cPanel
Log into your server admin account …
cPanel administration area
Navigate to the “Databases” section and click on phpMyAdmin …
phpMyAdmin
Click on your WordPress database.
Note: If you have multiple databases set up on your domain, make sure that you select the correct one …
phpMyAdmin databases
Don’t worry about the complicated-looking screen.
Click on wp_users in the left-hand column …
The user name is located in the “user login” column. To edit the user name simply 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 user name …
Log out of your server if you’re done and reopen the browser to your WordPress site. You may find that your session is expired. If so, log in again with your new administration login details …
You should see that the user name has been updated. However, your admin details will probably still be displaying the previous “nickname” …
To edit your “nickname”, open your Users section and click on the Edit link below your username …
You can also reach your 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 username on your website or blog.
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"These tutorials have so much information and are easy to understand. If you use WordPress or plan to in the future these will help you with everything you need to know." - Valisa (Mesa, Arizona)