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 …

WP TutorialFor better WordPress security, it’s recommended that you don’t install sites 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 WordPress websites.

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

In this tutorial for non-technical users, you will learn how to change your WordPress admin user name to a more secure user name.

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

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

The default WordPress user name admin is not recommended, as it puts your site at risk of being attacked by hackers and botnets …

How To Change Your Admin Username In WordPress To A More Secure Username

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

There are several ways to view your user name details after logging into your WP backend admin area:

Click on the Users > All Users screen in the main menu …

Changing Your WP Admin User Name To Another Username

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

Changing Your WordPress User Name From Admin To A More Secure Username

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

How To Change Your Admin User Name In WordPress

You can also visit your “Profile” screen by selecting Users > Your Profile from your Dashboard menu.

What you will see when you get into your Profile page, however, is that usernames can’t be changed inside your backend admin section …

Changing Your WordPress Admin Username To A Different User Name

So, how do you change your admin user name?

Change Admin Username By Creating A New Admin User

If your admin login is “admin,” here’s the easiest way to change this without accessing your server:

Click Add New to add a new user …

How To Change Your Admin User Name In WordPress

Next, create a more secure username, and assign the new user account the role of “Administrator”. Remember to save your changes to update your settings …

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

You have now created a new admin user …

Changing Your WP Admin Username

Log out of your WordPress admin area …

How To Change Your Admin User Name In WordPress

Log in with the new admin details for the user you have just created …

Changing Your Admin Username In WordPress To A More Secure User Name

You should see your new user name details in the “Howdy, User” screen …

How To Change Your WordPress Admin User Name To A More Secure Username

Select Users > All Users in your main menu …

How To Change Your WordPress User Name From Admin To Another User Name

Delete your old user account …

How To Change Your WordPress Admin Username

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

Changing Your WordPress Username From Admin To A Different Username

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

Changing Your Admin User Name In WordPress To A Different 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 mostly intended for non-technical WordPress users, let’s go one step further and show you how to change a WordPress user name inside the WordPress database.

All you need is admin access to your server’s control panel.

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 A Username Inside The WordPress Database

In this example, the server uses cPanel …

Changing Your WordPress Admin Username To Another User Name

cPanel management software

Log into your server administration account …

How To Change Your WP Username From Admin To Another Username

cPanel administration area

Navigate to the “Databases” section and open phpMyAdmin

How To Change Your WordPress Admin Username

phpMyAdmin

Open up your WP database.

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

Changing Your WP Username From Admin To A More Secure Username

phpMyAdmin databases

Don’t worry about the complicated-looking screen.

Click on wp_users

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

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

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

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

Changing Your WordPress Admin Username

Log out of your server when you’re done and go back to your WordPress site. You will probably find that your session has expired. If so, log in again with your new administration username and password …

How To Change Your Admin Username In WordPress

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

How To Change Your WP Admin User Name

To choose a new “nickname”, visit your Users screen and click the Edit link below the username …

How To Change Your WordPress Admin Username

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

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

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

How To Change Your WP Admin Username

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 drop down menu …

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

Click Update Profile to save your new settings …

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

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

Changing Your Admin User Name In WordPress

Congratulations! Now you know how to change your WordPress admin username on your website.

How To Change Your Admin User Name In WordPress To A More Secure Username

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"I have used the tutorials to teach all of my clients and it has probably never been so easy for everyone to learn WordPress ... Now I don't need to buy all these very expensive video courses that often don't deliver what they promise." - Stefan Wendt, Internet Marketing Success Group

Originally published as How To Change The Admin Username In WordPress.