For security purposes, avoid installing sites using 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 WordPress sites.
In this step-by-step tutorial, you will learn how to change your WordPress admin user name to a more secure user name.
How To Change Your WP Admin Username
By default, with a new WordPress site, the first registered user is usually the site administrator.
Having the default WordPress username admin is not recommended, as it can pose a security risk to your WordPress site …
Let’s change your WordPress admin user name to a more secure username.
There are several ways to access your “Profile” section and view your username details after logging into your WordPress backend admin area:
Select the Users > All Users page in the main menu …
Click either on your user name, or the Edit link when hovering over the username with your mouse …
Or, select Edit My Profile from the “Howdy, User” drop-down menu at the top-right hand corner of your Dashboard …
You can also access your “Profile” screen by selecting Users > Your Profile from your main menu.
You will see when you get into the Profile page that your user name can’t be changed from your Dashboard section …
So, how do you edit a username?
Change Admin Username By Creating A New Admin User
If your WordPress admin login is “admin,” here’s the easiest way to change your user name without accessing your server and altering files or your WordPress database:
Click Add New to add a new user …
Next, create a better username, and assign the new user the role of “Administrator”. Save your changes in order to update your settings …
You have now added a new admin user …
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 in the “Howdy, User” panel …
Click on Users > All Users in the main menu …
You can now delete your old administrator account …
Choose the option to assign 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 a username 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 Your Username Inside The WordPress Database
For this example, the server uses cPanel …
cPanel
Log into your server control panel …
cPanel admin area
Navigate to the “Databases” section and open up phpMyAdmin …
phpMyAdmin
Open up your WP database.
Note: If you have a number of databases set up on your domain, make sure that you select the correct one …
phpMyAdmin databases
Don’t panic when you see the complicated-looking information on your screen screen.
Click on wp_users …
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 the new username …
Log out of your server if you’re done and reopen the browser to your WordPress site. You will probably find that your session has expired. Log in again with your new Admin login details …
You should see that your username has been updated. However, it will probably still be displaying the previous “nickname” …
To choose a new “nickname”, visit your Users screen and click on the Edit link below the username …
You can also access the Profile section by clicking on the Edit My Profile link in the “Howdy, User” panel …
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 username and nickname …
Congratulations! Now you know how to change your WordPress admin username on your website.
***
"Learning WordPress has been a huge stumbling block for me. I've been looking for something that covers absolutely everything but doesn't cost an arm and a leg. Thank you so much ... you have just provided me with what I have been looking for! Truly appreciated!" - Tanya