For better WordPress security, you should not set up WordPress sites using the username “admin”.
This is the default installation username for WordPress and one of the first vulnerable areas of website security that hackers look for when attempting to break into WordPress.
In this tutorial for non-technical WordPress users, you will learn how to change your WordPress admin user name from ‘admin’ to a more secure username.
Changing Your WordPress Username From Admin To A More Secure Username
By default, in a new WordPress website installation, the first user is the admin.
Having the default WordPress user name admin is not recommended, as it can out your WordPress site at risk of being attacked by hackers and botnets …
Let’s change your WordPress admin user name to a more secure username.
There are several ways to access your “Profile” section inside your WordPress administration area:
Select the Users > All Users page in the main menu …
Click on the username, or the Edit link when hovering over the username with your mouse …
Or, select Edit My Profile from the “Howdy, User” menu near the top-right hand corner of your Dashboard …
You can also access your “Profile” section by selecting Users > Your Profile from your admin menu.
You will discover in the Profile area that you cannot change your user name inside your backend admin section …
So, how do you edit the admin user name?
Change Admin Username By Creating A New Admin User
If your user name is “admin,” here’s the easiest way to change your username without accessing your server and doing technical stuff:
First, create a new user …
Next, create a new user name, and assign this new user account the role of “Administrator”. Remember to save your changes 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 username details in the “Howdy, User” screen …
Select Users > All Users in your main menu …
You can now delete the old user account …
Choose the option to attribute all content owned by the old admin account and reassigned it to the new user, 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 designed for non-technical WordPress users, let’s go one step further and show you how to change a 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:
Changing Your User Name Inside The WordPress Database
In the example below, the server uses cPanel …
cPanel management tool
Log into your server control panel …
cPanel administration area
Find the “Databases” section and open up phpMyAdmin …
phpMyAdmin
Click on your WordPress database.
Note: If you have a number of databases set up on your domain, make sure that you select the right one …
phpMyAdmin databases
Don’t be concerned about the technical-looking nature of the information on your screen.
Click on wp_users in the left-hand column …
The username is located in the “user login” column. To edit the field simply 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 your new user name …
Log out of your server when you’re finished and reopen the browser to your WordPress site. You may find that your session is expired. If so, log in again with your new administration login details …
You should see that your username is now updated. However, your site will probably still be displaying the previous “nickname” …
To choose a new “nickname”, go to your Users area and click the Edit link below the username …
You can also access your Profile section if you click 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 drop-down 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.
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"This is AMAZING! I had learnt about how to use WordPress previously, but this covers absolutely everything and more!! Incredible value! Thank you!" - Monique, Warrior Forum