For improved WordPress security, avoid installing a WordPress site with the username “admin”.
This is the default installation username for WordPress and one of the leading causes of brute force attacks and security threats on the WordPress platform.
In this step-by-step tutorial for non-technical users, you will learn how to change the admin username in WordPress to a more secure username.
Changing Your WordPress User Name From Admin To Another Username
Normally, with all new WordPress site installations, the first user is usually the website administrator.
Having 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 username.
There are a number of ways to access your “Profile” section inside your WordPress admin area:
Select the Users > All Users page in the main menu …
Click on the user name, 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 at the top-right hand corner of your admin area …
You can also visit your “Profile” area by selecting Users > Your Profile from the main menu.
What you will see when you get into the Profile page, however, is that you cannot change user names inside the backend admin section …
So, how can you modify this admin user name?
Change Admin Username By Creating A New Admin User
If your WordPress user name is “admin,” here’s the easiest way to change this without accessing your server:
First, create a new user …
Next, create a more secure user name, and assign your new user account the role of “Administrator”. Remember to save your changes to update your settings …
You should now have a new admin user with a new username, plus your 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 username details displayed in the “Howdy, User” panel …
Select Users > All Users in the 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 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 designed 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 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 A User Name Inside The WordPress Database
In the example below, the server is using the cPanel management application …
cPanel management software
Log into your server administration account …
cPanel administration area
Navigate to the “Databases” section and open phpMyAdmin …
phpMyAdmin
Open up your WP database.
Note: If you have a number of databases set up on your domain, make sure that you choose the correct one …
phpMyAdmin databases
Don’t panic when you see the complicated-looking screen.
Click on wp_users …
The username is located in the “user login” column. To edit the field simply double-click on this 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 is expired. Log in again with your new Admin login credentials …
You should see that your user name is now updated. However, it will probably still be displaying the old “nickname” …
To edit your “nickname”, open your Users area and click the Edit link below the username …
You can also get to your Profile section by clicking on the Edit My Profile link in the “Howdy, User” box …
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 dropdown 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 the WordPress admin username on your website or blog.
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