For online security reasons, avoid setting up WordPress sites with the username “admin”.
This is the default installation user name for WordPress and one of the first vulnerable areas of website security hackers look for when attempting to break into the WordPress CMS.
In this tutorial, you will learn how to change the WordPress admin username from ‘admin’ to a more secure username.
Changing Your Admin Username In WordPress
Typically, in all new WordPress site installations, the first user is also the website administrator.
The default WordPress user name admin is not recommended, as it can out your site at risk of being attacked by hackers or bots …
Let’s change your WordPress admin user name from ‘admin’ to a more secure user name.
There are several ways to access your “Profile” section inside your site admin area:
Click on the Users > All Users screen in your main menu …
Click either on your 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 at the top-right hand corner of your Dashboard …
You can also visit your “Profile” page by selecting Users > Your Profile from the admin sidebar menu.
What you will see when you get into the Profile page, however, is that usernames can’t be changed inside the Dashboard …
So, how do you edit a 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 this without going into your server and editing your server files or your WordPress database:
Click Add New to create a new user …
Next, create a different user name, and assign the new user the role of “Administrator”. Save your changes to update your settings …
You have now created a new user with admin privileges …
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 the main menu …
Delete the old administrator account …
Choose the option to attribute all content owned by the old user account and reassigned it to the new admin, 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 a username inside the WordPress database.
All you need is 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 the example below, we’ll be working with cPanel …
cPanel management tool
Log into your server administration area …
cPanel administration area
Navigate to the “Databases” section and click on phpMyAdmin …
phpMyAdmin
Open up your WordPress database.
Note: If you have multiple databases set up on your domain, make sure that you select the right one …
phpMyAdmin databases
Don’t panic when you see the complicated-looking screen.
Click on wp_users …
The user name is located in the “user login” column. To edit the username simply 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 a new username …
Log out of your server when you’re done and reopen the browser to your WordPress site. You may find that your session is expired. If so, log in again with your new administration login details …
You should see that your username has been updated. However, your admin details will probably still display the old “nickname” …
To change your “nickname”, visit your Users section and click on the Edit link below your username …
You can also get to the Profile section by clicking on the Edit My Profile link in the “Howdy, User” section …
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 user name and nickname …
Congratulations! Now you know how to change your WordPress admin user name on your website or blog.
***
"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