For improved website security, do not set up sites using 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 website.
In this step-by-step tutorial, you will learn how to change the WordPress admin user name to a more secure user name.
Changing Your Admin Username In WordPress To Another Username
Normally, on all new WordPress website installations, the first user is usually the admin of the website.
Having the default WordPress user name admin is not recommended, as it puts your website or blog at risk of being attacked by hackers or botnets …
Let’s change the admin user name in WordPress from ‘admin’ to a more secure user name.
There are a number of ways to view your user name details after logging into WP:
Select the Users > All Users screen in the main menu …
Click on the username, or click on the Edit link when hovering over the user name 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 visit your “Profile” page by selecting Users > Your Profile from your Dashboard side menu.
You will discover in the Profile page that you can’t change your username from your administration section …
So, how do you edit the admin username?
Change Admin Username By Creating A New Admin User
If your admin login is “admin,” here’s the easiest way to change the user name without going into your server:
Click Add New to add a new user …
Next, create a different user name, and assign your new user account the role of “Administrator”. Save your changes to update your settings …
You have now added a new admin user …
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 username details displayed 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 your new admin, then confirm the deletion of the old user 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 intended 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’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 Your Username Inside The WordPress Database
In this example, we’ll be working with the cPanel management application …
cPanel
Log into your server control panel …
cPanel administration area
Find the “Databases” section and click on phpMyAdmin …
phpMyAdmin
Open up your WordPress database.
Note: If you have a number of databases set up on your domain, make sure you select 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 user name is located in the “user login” column. To edit the user name simply double-click on the 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 when you’re done and return to your WordPress site. You will probably find that your session has expired. If so, log in again with your new Admin username and password …
You should see that the user name has been updated. However, your site will probably still be displaying the old “nickname” …
To choose a new “nickname”, access your Users screen and click on the Edit link below your user name …
You can also access your Profile section by clicking on the Edit My Profile link in the “Howdy, User” box …
Select 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 dropdown 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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