For better web security, never install 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 in the WordPress platform.
In this step-by-step tutorial for non-technical users, we’ll show you how to change your WordPress admin user name from ‘admin’ to a more secure username.
How To Change Your WP Admin User Name
By default, on all new WordPress site installations, the first user is also the website administrator.
Having the default WordPress user name admin is not recommended, as it can pose a security risk to your WordPress site …
Let’s change the admin username in WordPress from ‘admin’ to a more secure user name.
There are several ways to view your username details after logging into your Dashboard area:
Select the Users > All Users page in your 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” dropdown menu at the top-right hand corner of your admin area …
You can also visit your “Profile” area by selecting Users > Your Profile from the main menu.
What you will see when you get into your Profile area, however, is that you cannot change usernames inside your administration section …
So, how can you modify the WordPress admin username?
Change Admin Username By Creating A New Admin User
If your user name is “admin,” here’s the easiest way to change the username without accessing your server and modifying your WordPress database:
Click Add New to add a new user …
Next, create a better username, and assign this new user the role of “Administrator”. Remember to save your changes in order to update your settings …
A new admin user should now display in the Users screen …
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” panel …
Click on Users > All Users in the main menu …
You can now delete the old user account …
Choose 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 admin 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 username inside the WordPress database.
All you need is 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 Username Inside The WordPress Database
In the example below, we’ll be working with the cPanel management software …
cPanel
Log into your server control panel …
cPanel admin area
Find the “Databases” section and open phpMyAdmin …
phpMyAdmin
Open up your WordPress database.
Note: If you have a number of databases set up on your domain, make sure that you select 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 your new user name …
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 will see that the username is now updated. However, it will probably still be displaying the previous “nickname” …
To choose a new “nickname”, access your Users section and click on the Edit link below the 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 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 your WordPress admin username on your website or blog.
***
"This is an awesome training series. I have a pretty good understanding of WordPress already, but this is helping me to move somewhere from intermediate to advanced user!" - Kim Lednum