For better security, avoid creating a WordPress site using the user name “admin”.
This is the default installation user name for WordPress and one of the first things that hackers look for when attempting to break into WordPress websites and blogs.
In this tutorial, you will learn how to change your admin user name in WordPress from ‘admin’ to a more secure username.
How To Change Your WordPress User Name From Admin To A More Secure Username
Normally, in a new WordPress website installation, the first registered user is the admin.
Having the default WordPress user name admin is not recommended, as it puts your website or blog at risk of being hacked …
Let’s change the WordPress admin username from ‘admin’ to a more secure username.
There are a number of ways to access your “Profile” section and view your user name details after logging into WP:
Select the Users > All Users screen in the main menu …
Click either on the username, or 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 go to your “Profile” section by selecting Users > Your Profile from the admin sidebar menu.
You will see when you get into the Profile area that usernames cannot be changed inside the administration section …
So, how can you edit the WordPress admin user name?
Change Admin Username By Creating A New Admin User
If your WordPress admin login is “admin,” here’s the easiest way to change the username without accessing your server and editing your server files or your WordPress database:
First, create a new user …
Next, create a more secure username, and assign the new user account the role of “Administrator”. Save your changes to update your settings …
You have now created 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 …
Select Users > All Users in the main menu …
You can now delete your old user account …
Select the option to attribute 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 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 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 A User Name Inside The WordPress Database
In our example, the server uses the cPanel management software …
cPanel
Log into your server control panel …
cPanel admin area
Navigate to the “Databases” section and click on phpMyAdmin …
phpMyAdmin
Open up your WP database.
Note: If you have a number of databases set up on your domain, make sure you choose the correct one …
phpMyAdmin databases
Don’t worry about the complicated screen.
Click on wp_users in the left-hand column …
The user name 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 user name and click outside the edit box to update the field with a new username …
Log out of your server if you’re finished and reopen the browser to your WordPress site. You may find that your session has expired. If so, log in again with your new administration login credentials …
You will see that the username is now updated. However, your site will probably still display the previous “nickname” …
To edit your “nickname”, open your Users screen and click the Edit link below your user name …
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 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 user name on your website or blog.
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