For improved security, never create a WordPress site with the username “admin”.
This is the default installation user name for WordPress and one of the first areas of potential vulnerabilities hackers look for when attempting to break into WordPress websites and blogs.
In this tutorial for non-technical users, we’ll show you how to change the WordPress admin user name to a more secure username.
Changing Your WordPress Username From Admin To A More Secure Username
Normally, on a new WordPress website installation, the first registered user is also the admin.
The default WordPress username admin is not recommended, as it can out your WordPress site at risk of being attacked by hackers and botnets …
Let’s change your admin user name in WordPress from ‘admin’ to a more secure username.
There are several ways to access your “Profile” section after logging into WordPress:
Click on the Users > All Users screen in your main menu …
Click either 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” dropdown menu near the top-right hand corner of your screen …
You can also visit your “Profile” area by selecting Users > Your Profile from the Dashboard side menu.
What you will discover when you get into your Profile page, however, is that you cannot change your user name inside the backend admin section …
So, how can you modify 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 this without going into your server:
First, let’s create a new user …
Next, create a more secure username, and assign the new user the role of “Administrator”. Remember to save your changes to update your settings …
You have now created a new user with the role of admin …
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” screen …
Select Users > All Users in the main menu …
You can now delete the old administrator account …
Choose 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 really intended for non-technical WordPress users, let’s go one step further and show you how to change a 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:
How To Change Your User Name Inside The WordPress Database
For the example below, the server uses the cPanel management application …
cPanel management application
Log into your server control panel …
cPanel administration area
Navigate to the “Databases” section and click on phpMyAdmin …
phpMyAdmin
Click on your WordPress database.
Note: If you have multiple databases set up on your domain, make sure you choose the right one …
phpMyAdmin databases
Don’t be concerned about the complicated-looking 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 this text you want to change …
Type in the new user name and click outside the edit box to update the field with a new user name …
Log out of your server when you’re done and return to your WordPress site. You may find that your session is expired. If so, log in again with your new Admin credentials …
You will see that the username has been updated. However, your admin details will probably still be displaying the old “nickname” …
To choose a new “nickname”, access your Users section and click on the Edit link below the user name …
You can also get to your Profile section by clicking on the Edit My Profile link in the “Howdy, User” screen …
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 username and nickname …
Congratulations! Now you know how to change your WordPress admin user name on your website or blog.
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"I have used the tutorials to teach all of my clients and it has probably never been so easy for everyone to learn WordPress ... Now I don't need to buy all these very expensive video courses that often don't deliver what they promise." - Stefan Wendt, Internet Marketing Success Group