For increased security, it’s best not to set up a WordPress site using the user name “admin”.
This is the default installation user name for WordPress and one of the first things hackers look for when attempting to break into the WordPress CMS.
In this tutorial, we’ll show you how to change the admin user name in WordPress from ‘admin’ to a more secure user name.
Changing Your WordPress Admin Username
By default, in a new WordPress installation, the first user is usually the administrator.
Having the default WordPress username admin is not recommended, as it puts your blog at risk …
Let’s change your WordPress admin user name to a more secure username.
There are several ways to view your username details after logging into WP:
Select the Users > All Users section in the main menu …
Click on the user name, or click on the Edit link when hovering over the user name with your mouse …
Or, select Edit My Profile from the “Howdy, User” menu near the top-right hand corner of your admin area …
You can also go to your “Profile” page by selecting Users > Your Profile from the admin menu.
What you will discover in the Profile area, however, is that you cannot change your user name inside your admin section …
So, how can you change the WordPress admin username?
Change Admin Username By Creating A New Admin User
If your user name is “admin,” here’s the easiest way to change your username without accessing your server and modifying any files or your WordPress database:
Click Add New to create a new user …
Next, create a more secure username, and assign the new user the role of “Administrator”. Save your changes in order to update your settings …
You have now created 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” screen …
Click on Users > All Users in the main menu …
You can now delete your old user account …
Select the option to assign all content owned by the old admin account and reassigned it to the new admin, then confirm the deletion of the old user 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 really aimed for non-technical WordPress users, let’s go one step further and show you how to change a user name inside the WordPress database.
All you need is admin access to your server’s control panel.
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 the example below, the server uses cPanel …
cPanel management software
Log into your server control panel …
cPanel administration area
Find the “Databases” section and click on phpMyAdmin …
phpMyAdmin
Click on your WordPress database.
Note: If you have a number of databases set up on your domain, make sure you choose the correct one …
phpMyAdmin databases
Don’t be concerned about the complicated-looking screen.
Click on wp_users in the left-hand column …
The username is located in the “user login” column. To edit the user name just double-click on this text you want to change …
Type in the new user name and click outside the edit box to update the field with the new username …
Log out of your server when you’re finished and reopen the browser to your WordPress site. You will probably find that your session is expired. Log in again with your new Admin login details …
You will see that the username has been updated. However, your site will probably still display the previous “nickname” …
To change your “nickname”, open your Users area and click the Edit link below the username …
You can also get to your Profile section if you click on the Edit My Profile link in the “Howdy, User” section …
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 user name and nickname …
Congratulations! Now you know how to change your WordPress admin user name on your website.
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