For online security purposes, don’t create sites using the user name “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 step-by-step tutorial, you will learn how to change the WordPress admin username to a more secure username.
How To Change Your WordPress Username From Admin To A Different Username
Typically, in a new WordPress installation, the first user is usually the administrator.
The default WordPress username admin is not recommended, as it puts your site at risk of being hacked …
Let’s change the WordPress admin user name to a more secure username.
There are a number of ways to access your “Profile” section after logging into WordPress:
Select the Users > All Users screen in your main menu …
Click either on the username, or click on the Edit link when hovering over the username with your mouse …
Or, select Edit My Profile from the “Howdy, User” menu near the top-right hand corner of your screen …
You can also access your “Profile” area by selecting Users > Your Profile from your admin sidebar menu.
What you will discover in the Profile page, however, is that usernames can’t be changed inside the Dashboard …
So, how can you edit this admin username?
Change Admin Username By Creating A New Admin User
If your username is “admin,” here’s the easiest way to change this without accessing your server:
First, let’s create a new user …
Next, create a better user name, and assign the new user account the role of “Administrator”. Remember to save your changes in order to update your settings …
You have now created a new admin user …
Log out of your WordPress admin area …
Log in with your new admin details …
You should see your new username details displayed in the “Howdy, User” panel …
Select Users > All Users in the main menu …
You can now delete your old user account …
Select the option to attribute all content owned by the old admin account and reassigned it to the new user, 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 mostly intended for non-technical WordPress users, let’s go one step further and show you how to change your 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 A User Name Inside The WordPress Database
In our example, the server uses the cPanel management software …
cPanel
Log into your server admin account …
cPanel administration area
Scroll down to the “Databases” section and click on phpMyAdmin …
phpMyAdmin
Click on your WordPress 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 complicated-looking screen.
Click on wp_users …
The username is located in the “user login” column. To edit the user name 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 the new user name …
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. Log in again with your new administration details …
You should see that your user name has been updated. However, it will probably still be displaying the previous “nickname” …
To edit the “nickname”, access your Users section and click on the Edit link below your user name …
You can also reach your Profile section if you click on the Edit My Profile link in the “Howdy, User” box …
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 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 or blog.
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"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