For web security reasons, avoid installing WordPress sites with the user name “admin”.
This is the default installation username for WordPress and one of the leading causes of brute force attacks and security threats on a WordPress web site.
In this step-by-step tutorial for non-technical users, you will learn how to change your admin username in WordPress to a more secure username.
How To Change Your WP Admin User Name To Another Username
Typically, on all new WordPress sites, 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 the WordPress admin user name from ‘admin’ to a more secure username.
There are a number of ways to access your “Profile” section and view your username details after logging into your site admin area:
Select the Users > All Users screen in the main menu …
Click on the user name, or the Edit link when hovering over the username with your mouse …
Or, select Edit My Profile from the “Howdy, User” menu at the top-right hand corner of your screen …
You can also go to your “Profile” section by selecting Users > Your Profile from your main menu.
You will see in the Profile page that you cannot change user names from the admin section …
So, how can you edit a username?
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 user name, and assign the new user the role of “Administrator”. Save your changes in order to update your settings …
You have now added 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 …
Click on Users > All Users in your 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 the new admin, 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 really 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:
How To Change A Username Inside The WordPress Database
In this example, the server is using cPanel …
cPanel management software
Log into your server administration area …
cPanel administration area
Scroll down to the “Databases” section and open phpMyAdmin …
phpMyAdmin
Click on your WP database.
Note: If you have a number of databases set up on your domain, make sure you choose the right one …
phpMyAdmin databases
Don’t panic when you see the technical-looking nature of the information on your screen.
Click on wp_users …
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 the new user name …
Log out of your server if you’re done and return to your WordPress site. You may find that your session is expired. Log in again with your new Admin login credentials …
You will see that your user name has been updated. However, your admin details will probably still display the old “nickname” …
To change your “nickname”, access your Users section and click on the Edit link below your user name …
You can also access 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 user name and nickname …
Congratulations! Now you know how to change your 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