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 …

WordPress For BeginnersFor web security reasons, avoid installing sites using the user name “admin”.

This is the default installation user name for WordPress and one of the leading causes of brute force attacks and security threats on the WordPress platform.

Changing Your Admin User Name In WordPress To A Different Username

In this tutorial for non-technical users, you will learn how to change the WordPress admin username from ‘admin’ to a more secure username.

Changing Your WP Admin User Name To Another User Name

Normally, with all new WordPress site installations, the first user is also the admin of the website or blog.

The default WordPress username admin is not recommended, as it puts your WordPress site at risk of being hacked …

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

Let’s change the admin username in WordPress to a more secure username.

There are a number of ways to view your user name details inside your Dashboard area:

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

Changing Your WordPress Admin Username To A Different Username

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

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

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

Changing Your WP User Name From Admin To A Different Username

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

You will discover when you get into the Profile page that you cannot change user names inside your Dashboard …

Changing Your Admin Username In WordPress

So, how can you edit a admin user name?

Change Admin Username By Creating A New Admin User

If your WordPress admin login is “admin,” here’s the easiest way to change the username without accessing your server and modifying your server files or your WordPress database:

First, let’s create a new user …

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

Next, create a new username, and assign your new user the role of “Administrator”. Save your changes to update your settings …

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

A new admin user should now be displaying …

Changing Your Admin User Name In WordPress To Another Username

Log out of your WordPress admin area …

How To Change Your WordPress Admin User Name

Log in with your new admin details …

Changing Your Admin User Name In WordPress

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

Changing Your WP User Name From Admin To A Different Username

Click on Users > All Users in your main menu …

Changing Your Admin User Name In WordPress

You can now delete the old user account …

Changing Your WordPress Admin User Name

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

How To Change Your WordPress Admin Username

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

How To Change Your WordPress Username From Admin 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 really designed 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 admin 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:

How To Change Your User Name Inside The WordPress Database

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

How To Change Your Admin Username In WordPress

cPanel management software

Log into your server control panel …

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

cPanel admin area

Find the “Databases” section and click on phpMyAdmin

Changing Your Admin User Name In WordPress

phpMyAdmin

Open up your WP database.

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

How To Change Your WP Username From Admin To Another Username

phpMyAdmin databases

Don’t worry about the complicated-looking information on your screen screen.

Click on wp_users in the left-hand column …

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

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

Changing Your Admin User Name In WordPress

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

Changing Your WP Admin User Name

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 administration credentials …

How To Change Your Admin User Name In WordPress

You should see that the username is now updated. However, your site will probably still be displaying the old “nickname” …

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

To change the “nickname”, visit your Users section and click on the Edit link below the user name …

Changing Your WP Admin Username To A More Secure Username

You can also get to the Profile section by clicking on the Edit My Profile link in the “Howdy, User” panel …

How To Change Your Admin Username In WordPress To Another Username

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

How To Change Your WordPress Admin User Name

Practical 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 …

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

Click Update Profile to save your new settings …

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

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

Changing Your WordPress Admin User Name To Another Username

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

How To Change Your WordPress Admin Username

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