For web security reasons, you should not install WordPress sites using the username “admin”.
This is the default installation username for WordPress and one of the first areas of potential vulnerabilities that hackers look for in the WordPress CMS.
In this tutorial for non-technical users, we’ll show you how to change the admin user name in WordPress from ‘admin’ to a more secure username.
Changing Your Admin User Name In WordPress To A Different User Name
By default, in all new WordPress website installations, the first registered user is also the admin.
Having the default WordPress username admin is not recommended, as it can out your WordPress site at risk of being hacked …
Let’s change your WordPress admin user name from ‘admin’ to a more secure user name.
There are several ways to view your user name details after logging into your WordPress site admin area:
Select the Users > All Users screen in the main menu …
Click on your user name, or click on the Edit link when hovering over the username with your mouse …
Or, select Edit My Profile from the “Howdy, User” drop-down menu near the top-right hand corner of your admin area …
You can also visit your “Profile” section by selecting Users > Your Profile from your admin menu.
You will discover when you get into your Profile area that you can’t change your username inside the Dashboard …
So, how can you change this WordPress admin username?
Change Admin Username By Creating A New Admin User
If your WordPress user name is “admin,” here’s the easiest way to change the user name without going into your server and altering your WordPress database:
First, create a new user …
Next, create a different 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 be displaying …
Log out of your WordPress admin area …
Log in with your new admin details …
You should see your new user name details in the “Howdy, User” panel …
Click on Users > All Users in your main menu …
Delete your old user account …
Choose the option to attribute all content owned by the old user 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 aimed for non-technical WordPress users, let’s go one step further and show you how to change your WordPress 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 this example, the server uses cPanel …
cPanel
Log into your server control panel …
cPanel administration area
Navigate to the “Databases” section and open phpMyAdmin …
phpMyAdmin
Open up your WordPress database.
Note: If you have multiple databases set up on your domain, make sure you select the right one …
phpMyAdmin databases
Don’t panic when you see the complicated-looking information on your screen screen.
Click on wp_users …
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 username …
Log out of your server if 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 login credentials …
You should see that your user name has been updated. However, your site will probably still be displaying the previous “nickname” …
To choose a new “nickname”, access your Users screen and click on the Edit link below the user name …
You can also get to your Profile section if you click on the Edit My Profile link in the “Howdy, User” screen …
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 your WordPress admin user name on your website.
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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