How To Change The Admin Username In WordPress

The default WordPress username admin poses a security risk to your WordPress site. Learn how to change the admin username in WordPress for improved security …

Learn WordPressFor web security reasons, it’s safer to not create WordPress sites with the username “admin”.

This is the default installation username for WordPress and one of the first things that hackers look for when attempting to break into the WordPress CMS.

Changing Your Admin Username In WordPress To A Different User Name

In this step-by-step tutorial, we’ll show you how to change the WordPress admin user name to a more secure user name.

Changing Your WP Username From Admin To A Different User Name

Generally, with a new WordPress installation, the first user is the administrator.

Having the default WordPress user name admin is not recommended, as it can out your website or blog at risk of being hacked …

How To Change Your WP Admin User Name To Another User Name

Let’s change your admin user name in WordPress from ‘admin’ to a more secure username.

There are a number of ways to access your “Profile” section and view your user name details after logging into WordPress:

Click on the Users > All Users section in your main menu …

How To Change Your WP User Name From Admin To A More Secure Username

Click on the username, or the Edit link when hovering over the user name with your mouse …

How To Change Your WordPress Admin Username

Or, select Edit My Profile from the “Howdy, User” menu at the top-right hand corner of your Dashboard …

Changing Your WP Admin Username To A More Secure User Name

You can also access your “Profile” section by selecting Users > Your Profile from the main menu.

You will discover in the Profile page that your username cannot be changed inside your Dashboard …

Changing Your Admin User Name In WordPress

So, how can you change your username?

Change Admin Username By Creating A New Admin User

If your admin login is “admin,” here’s the easiest way to change your username without going into your server and doing technical stuff:

First, let’s create a new user …

Changing Your Admin Username In WordPress To Another Username

Next, create a better user name, and assign your new user the role of “Administrator”. Remember to save your changes in order to update your settings …

How To Change Your Admin Username In WordPress

You should now see a new admin user with a new username, as well as your original username (i.e. “admin”) …

Changing Your WP User Name From Admin To A Different User Name

Log out of your WordPress admin area …

Changing Your WordPress User Name From Admin To A Different User Name

Log in with your new admin details …

Changing Your WP Admin User Name

You should see your new username details displayed in the “Howdy, User” screen …

Changing Your Admin User Name In WordPress

Click on Users > All Users in your main menu …

How To Change Your Admin User Name In WordPress To Another Username

Delete your old user account …

How To Change Your WP Admin Username

Select the option to assign all content owned by the old user account and reassigned it to your new user, then confirm the deletion of the old account …

Changing Your WordPress Username From Admin To A More Secure Username

You are now left with only the new Admin account, effectively changing your WordPress admin user name …

Changing Your WP 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)

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

(Install the plugin)

After installing the plugin, click the ‘Activate’ button …

Activate the plugin

(Activate the plugin)

Configuring The Plugin

After installing and activating the plugin, go to Settings > Username Changer

Settings - Username Changer menu

(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

(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

(Username Changer Settings – Email notifications)

Using The Plugin

To change your username, go to Users > Your Profile

Users - Your Profile menu

(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

(Click on ‘Change Username’ link)

The ‘Username’ field will become editable. Change your username and click the ‘Save Username’ button …

Save your new username

(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

(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

(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

(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

(Username changed)

To learn more about this plugin, go here: Username Changer

Important

Although this tutorial is really 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 access to your server.

Practical Tip

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 User Name Inside The WordPress Database

For this example, we’ll be working with cPanel …

How To Change Your WP Admin User Name To A More Secure User Name

cPanel

Log into your server admin account …

How To Change Your Admin User Name In WordPress

cPanel administration area

Find the “Databases” section and open up phpMyAdmin

How To Change Your WordPress Username From Admin To A Different User Name

phpMyAdmin

Open up your WP database.

Note: If you have multiple databases set up on your domain, make sure that you choose the right one …

Changing Your WP User Name From Admin To A More Secure User Name

phpMyAdmin databases

Don’t worry about the complicated-looking screen.

Click on wp_users in the left-hand column …

Changing Your WordPress Username From Admin To Another User Name

The username is located in the “user login” column. To edit the username simply double-click on the text you want to change …

How To Change Your WP User Name From Admin To A More Secure Username

Type in the new username and click outside the edit box to update the field with your new user name …

How To Change Your WP User Name From Admin To A Different Username

Log out of your server if you’re finished and return to your WordPress site. You may find that your session has expired. Log in again with your new administration username and password …

Changing Your Admin Username In WordPress To A Different User Name

You should see that your user name has been updated. However, your site will probably still be displaying the old “nickname” …

Changing Your WP Username From Admin To A Different User Name

To change the “nickname”, access your Users screen and click the Edit link below the user name …

Changing Your Admin Username In WordPress

You can also access the Profile section if you click on the Edit My Profile link in the “Howdy, User” screen …

Changing Your WP Admin User Name

Choose a new name to display publicly from the drop down menu …

How To Change Your WP Username From Admin To Another User Name

Tip

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 …

Changing Your WordPress Admin User Name

Click Update Profile to save your new settings …

Changing Your WordPress Admin User Name To Another User Name

You admin area is now updated with a new user name and nickname …

How To Change Your Admin User Name In WordPress To Another Username

Congratulations! Now you know how to change your WordPress admin user name on your website or blog.

How To Change Your WordPress Admin Username

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