For web security purposes, do not create a WordPress site using the user name “admin”.
This is the default installation username for WordPress and one of the first areas of potential vulnerabilities that hackers look for when attempting to break into the WordPress CMS.
In this step-by-step tutorial for non-technical users, we’ll show you how to change your admin username in WordPress to a more secure user name.
How To Change Your WordPress Username From Admin To A More Secure User Name
Typically, in a new WordPress site, the first user is usually the website administrator.
The default WordPress username admin is not recommended, as it can pose a security risk to your WordPress site …
Let’s change your admin user name in WordPress to a more secure username.
There are several ways to access your “Profile” section and view your user name details inside WP:
Click on the Users > All Users section in the main menu …
Click on the user name, or the Edit link when hovering over the user name with your mouse …
Or, select Edit My Profile from the “Howdy, User” drop down menu near the top-right hand corner of your Dashboard …
You can also visit your “Profile” page by selecting Users > Your Profile from the Dashboard side menu.
What you will see in the Profile area, however, is that usernames cannot be changed inside your Dashboard …
So, how do you modify a WordPress admin username?
Change Admin Username By Creating A New Admin User
If your admin login is “admin,” here’s the easiest way to change your username without going into your server and doing technical changes to your WordPress database:
First, create a new user …
Next, create a different username, and assign this new user the role of “Administrator”. Save your changes to update your settings …
A new admin user should now display in the Users section …
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 your main menu …
Delete your old administrator 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 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 aimed for non-technical WordPress users, let’s go one step further and show you how to change a 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 A Username Inside The WordPress Database
For our example, we’ll be working with the cPanel management software …
cPanel management tool
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 you choose the correct one …
phpMyAdmin databases
Don’t worry 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 user name simply double-click on this text you want to change …
Type in the new username and click outside the edit box to update the field with your new username …
Log out of your server when you’re done and go back to your WordPress site. You may find that your session has expired. If so, log in again with your new Admin details …
You should see that the username has been updated. However, it will probably still display the old “nickname” …
To change the “nickname”, access your Users area and click on the Edit link below your user name …
You can also access the Profile section by clicking on the Edit My Profile link in the “Howdy, User” box …
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 username on your website.
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