For improved WordPress site security, avoid installing sites using the username “admin”.
This is the default installation username for WordPress and one of the first things hackers look for in WordPress.
In this tutorial for non-technical users, we’ll show you how to change your admin username in WordPress to a more secure user name.
Changing Your WordPress User Name From Admin To A More Secure User Name
By default, in a new WordPress site, the first registered user is also the website administrator.
Having the default WordPress user name admin is not recommended, as it puts your WordPress site at risk …
Let’s change the WordPress admin username from ‘admin’ to a more secure user name.
There are several ways to access your “Profile” section and view your user name details inside your site admin area:
Click on the Users > All Users page in your main menu …
Click either on the username, 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 access your “Profile” area by selecting Users > Your Profile from the Dashboard menu.
You will discover when you get into the Profile area that you cannot change user names from your Dashboard …
So, how do you edit your admin username?
Change Admin Username By Creating A New Admin User
If your admin login is “admin,” here’s the easiest way to change this without going into your server and modifying any files or your WordPress database:
First, create a new user …
Next, create a new user name, and assign the new user the role of “Administrator”. Save your changes to update your settings …
You have now added a new user with admin privileges …
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 …
Select Users > All Users in your main menu …
You can now delete your old user account …
Select 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 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 aimed for non-technical WordPress users, let’s go one step further and show you how to change your WordPress user name inside the WordPress database.
All you need is access to your server.
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 Username Inside The WordPress Database
In this example, the server is using cPanel …
cPanel management software
Log into your server control panel …
cPanel admin 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 select the right one …
phpMyAdmin databases
Don’t be concerned about the complicated-looking screen.
Click on wp_users in the “Table” column on the left-hand side …
The username 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 username and click outside the edit box to update the field with a new user name …
Log out of your server when you’re finished and reopen the browser to your WordPress site. You may find that your session is expired. If so, log in again with your new Admin credentials …
You will see that the username has been updated. However, your site will probably still be displaying the old “nickname” …
To choose a new “nickname”, visit your Users screen and click on the Edit link below the user name …
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 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 the WordPress admin username on your website.
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