For online security purposes, avoid creating WordPress sites using the user name “admin”.
This is the default installation username for WordPress and one of the first vulnerable areas of website security that hackers will test with WordPress.
In this step-by-step tutorial for non-technical WordPress users, we’ll show you how to change the WordPress admin user name to a more secure user name.
How To Change Your Admin User Name In WordPress To Another Username
Typically, in all new WordPress site installations, the first registered user is also the admin.
The default WordPress user name admin is not recommended, as it could pose a security risk to your WordPress site …
Let’s change the WordPress admin user name to a more secure username.
There are a number of ways to access your “Profile” section and view your user name details inside WP:
Select the Users > All Users section in your main menu …
Click on your username, or the Edit link when hovering over the user name with your mouse …
Or, select Edit My Profile from the “Howdy, User” menu at the top-right hand corner of your Dashboard …
You can also go to your “Profile” section by selecting Users > Your Profile from your main menu.
What you will see when you get into the Profile page, however, is that usernames can’t be changed inside your Dashboard …
So, how do you change this admin username?
Change Admin Username By Creating A New Admin User
If your admin login is “admin,” here’s the easiest way to change the user name without accessing your server:
First, let’s create a new user …
Next, create a more secure username, and assign the new user account the role of “Administrator”. 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 your new admin details …
You should see your new user name details displayed in the “Howdy, User” panel …
Select Users > All Users in your main menu …
You can now delete the old administrator account …
Select the option to attribute all content owned by the old user 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 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 mostly aimed for non-technical WordPress users, let’s go one step further and show you how to change a WordPress 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:
Changing Your Username Inside The WordPress Database
In our example, the server is using cPanel …
cPanel management application
Log into your server admin area …
cPanel admin area
Find the “Databases” section and open up 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 be concerned about the complicated screen.
Click on wp_users in the left-hand column …
The username is located in the “user login” column. To edit the username 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 your new username …
Log out of your server when you’re finished and reopen the browser to your WordPress site. You will probably find that your session is expired. If so, log in again with your new administration details …
You should see that your user name has been updated. However, it will probably still display the old “nickname” …
To change the “nickname”, visit your Users section and click on the Edit link below your username …
You can also access the Profile section if you click on the Edit My Profile link in the “Howdy, User” panel …
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 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 your WordPress admin username on your website.
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"Wow! I never knew there's so much to learn about WordPress! I bought one of the WordPress for Dummies three years ago, such authors need to be on this course!" - Rich Law, Create A Blog Now