For improved security, avoid setting up WordPress sites using 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 CMS.
In this tutorial for non-technical users, you will learn how to change your WordPress admin username to a more secure user name.
Changing Your WP Username From Admin To Another Username
Typically, in a new WordPress installation, the first registered user is usually the admin of the website.
The default WordPress user name admin is not recommended, as it can out your WordPress site at risk of being hacked …
Let’s change your admin username in WordPress from ‘admin’ to a more secure username.
There are a number of ways to access your “Profile” section and view your user name details inside your WordPress Dasboard area:
Select the Users > All Users section in your main menu …
Click either 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” menu at the top-right hand corner of your screen …
You can also access your “Profile” section by selecting Users > Your Profile from your admin menu.
What you will discover when you get into your Profile area, however, is that you cannot change your user name from the Dashboard …
So, how do you edit the user name?
Change Admin Username By Creating A New Admin User
If your username is “admin,” here’s the easiest way to change this without going into your server:
Click Add New to create a new user …
Next, create a better username, and assign the new user the role of “Administrator”. Remember to save your changes in order to update your settings …
You have now added 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” screen …
Click on Users > All Users in the main menu …
Delete your old user account …
Select the option to assign all content owned by the old user account and reassigned it to your new admin, 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 …
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 user name inside the WordPress database.
All you need is admin 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:
Changing Your Username Inside The WordPress Database
In our example, we’ll be working with the cPanel management tool …
cPanel
Log into your server control panel …
cPanel administration area
Navigate to the “Databases” section and open phpMyAdmin …
phpMyAdmin
Click on your WP database.
Note: If you have multiple databases set up on your domain, make sure you choose the correct one …
phpMyAdmin databases
Don’t worry about the technical-looking nature of the information on your screen.
Click on wp_users …
The user name is located in the “user login” column. To edit the user name simply double-click on this text you want to change …
Type in the new user name and click outside the edit box to update the field with the new username …
Log out of your server if you’re finished and go back to your WordPress site. You will probably find that your session has expired. If so, log in again with your new administration details …
You will see that the username has been updated. However, your admin details will probably still be displaying the old “nickname” …
To choose a new “nickname”, visit your Users area and click on the Edit link below the username …
You can also reach the Profile section by clicking on the Edit My Profile link in the “Howdy, User” panel …
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 user name and nickname …
Congratulations! Now you know how to change your WordPress admin username on your website or blog.
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