For web security purposes, avoid setting up 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 the WordPress CMS.
In this tutorial for non-technical users, we’ll show you how to change the admin username in WordPress to a more secure user name.
Changing Your WordPress Admin Username To A Different Username
Normally, in a new WordPress installation, the first user is usually the admin.
The default WordPress username admin is not recommended, as it puts your site at risk …
Let’s change your WordPress admin user name from ‘admin’ to a more secure user name.
There are a number of ways to access your “Profile” section and view your username details inside your WP administration area:
Select the Users > All Users section in your main menu …
Click on your username, 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 screen …
You can also visit your “Profile” screen by selecting Users > Your Profile from the admin menu.
You will discover in the Profile page that you can’t change user names from your administration section …
So, how do you change a 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 user name without going into your server and modifying your WordPress database:
First, let’s create a new user …
Next, create a more secure username, and assign this new user the role of “Administrator”. Remember to save your changes to update your settings …
You should now have a new admin user with a new user name, as well as the original username (i.e. “admin”) …
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 user name details displayed in the “Howdy, User” panel …
Click on Users > All Users in your main menu …
You can now delete your old user account …
Choose the option to attribute 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 username …
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:
How To Change Your Username Inside The WordPress Database
For the example below, we’ll be working with cPanel …
cPanel management tool
Log into your server administration account …
cPanel admin area
Find the “Databases” section and open phpMyAdmin …
phpMyAdmin
Open up your WP 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 technical-looking nature of the information on your screen.
Click on wp_users in the “Table” column on the left-hand side …
The user name is located in the “user login” column. To edit the field just 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 your new username …
Log out of your server if you’re done and return to your WordPress site. You may find that your session is expired. If so, log in again with your new Admin credentials …
You should see that your user name is now updated. However, your site will probably still be displaying the old “nickname” …
To choose a new “nickname”, access your Users section and click the Edit link below the username …
You can also get to the Profile section by clicking on the Edit My Profile link in the “Howdy, User” screen …
Select 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 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 the WordPress admin username on your website.
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