For web security reasons, do not install a WordPress site with the user name “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 tutorial for non-technical users, you will learn how to change the WordPress admin user name to a more secure username.
Changing Your Admin User Name In WordPress
Generally, in a new WordPress website installation, the first user is usually the admin.
The default WordPress user name admin is not recommended, as it creates a security risk to your WordPress site …
Let’s change your WordPress admin username from ‘admin’ to a more secure user name.
There are several ways to access your “Profile” section inside WP:
Select the Users > All Users screen in your main menu …
Click either on the user name, 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 visit your “Profile” page by selecting Users > Your Profile from your Dashboard side menu.
You will see when you get into the Profile area that you can’t change your user name inside your backend admin section …
So, how can you edit the username?
Change Admin Username By Creating A New Admin User
If your username is “admin,” here’s the easiest way to change this without accessing your server and doing technical stuff:
First, let’s create a new user …
Next, create a new username, and assign the new user 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 the new admin details for the user you have just created …
You should see your new username details in the “Howdy, User” screen …
Select Users > All Users in your main menu …
Delete your old user account …
Choose the option to assign all content owned by the old admin account and reassigned it to your new user, then confirm the deletion of the old admin 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 designed 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 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 this example, we’ll be working with the cPanel management software …
cPanel
Log into your server admin area …
cPanel admin area
Navigate to the “Databases” section and open up phpMyAdmin …
phpMyAdmin
Open up your WP 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 …
The username 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 the new username …
Log out of your server when you’re done and reopen the browser to your WordPress site. You will probably find that your session has expired. If so, log in again with your new Admin login details …
You will see that the username has been updated. However, your admin details will probably still be displaying the previous “nickname” …
To change your “nickname”, access your Users section and click on the Edit link below your username …
You can also reach the Profile section by clicking on the Edit My Profile link in the “Howdy, User” section …
Select a new name to display publicly from the dropdown 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 username on your website.
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