For better web security, never install a WordPress site with the username “admin”.
This is the default installation user name 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, you will learn how to change the admin user name in WordPress to a more secure user name.
How To Change Your Admin Username In WordPress
Normally, with all new WordPress sites, the first user is the administrator.
Having the default WordPress username admin is not recommended, as it puts your website or blog at risk …
Let’s change the admin user name in WordPress from ‘admin’ to a more secure user name.
There are a number of ways to access your “Profile” section inside your backend admin area:
Click on the Users > All Users page in your main menu …
Click on your user name, or 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 Dashboard …
You can also visit your “Profile” section by selecting Users > Your Profile from your admin sidebar menu.
You will see in the Profile area that your username can’t be changed inside the site admin section …
So, how can you change your username?
Change Admin Username By Creating A New Admin User
If your WordPress username is “admin,” here’s the easiest way to change this without accessing your server and altering your server files or your WordPress database:
First, let’s create a new user …
Next, create a more secure user name, and assign the new user account the role of “Administrator”. Save your changes to update your settings …
You should now see a new admin user with a new user name, plus your original username (i.e. “admin”) …
Log out of your WordPress admin area …
Log in with your new admin details …
You should see your new username details in the “Howdy, User” screen …
Select Users > All Users in the main menu …
You can now delete the old administrator 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 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 user name 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:
How To Change Your Username Inside The WordPress Database
For the example below, the server uses cPanel …
cPanel
Log into your server control panel …
cPanel administration area
Find the “Databases” section and click on phpMyAdmin …
phpMyAdmin
Click on your WP database.
Note: If you have multiple databases set up on your domain, make sure you choose the correct one …
phpMyAdmin databases
Don’t be concerned about the complicated-looking information on your screen screen.
Click on wp_users in the left-hand column …
The user name is located in the “user login” column. To edit the field just 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 your new username …
Log out of your server if you’re finished and go back to your WordPress site. You will probably find that your session has expired. If so, log in again with your new Admin details …
You should see that the username is now updated. However, your site will probably still be displaying the old “nickname” …
To choose a new “nickname”, access your Users area and click the Edit link below your user name …
You can also reach the Profile section if you click on the Edit My Profile link in the “Howdy, User” section …
Select 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 the WordPress admin username on your website.
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