For better WordPress security, avoid creating WordPress sites using the user name “admin”.
This is the default installation user name for WordPress and one of the first areas of potential vulnerabilities that hackers look for when attempting to break into the WordPress CMS.
In this tutorial for non-technical users, we’ll show you how to change your WordPress admin username from ‘admin’ to a more secure username.
How To Change Your WordPress Admin User Name To A Different Username
By default, on all new WordPress installations, the first registered user is also the site administrator.
The default WordPress user name admin is not recommended, as it puts your website or blog at risk …
Let’s change your WordPress admin user name to a more secure user name.
There are a number of ways to view your username details inside WP:
Click on the Users > All Users page in the main menu …
Click 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 screen …
You can also visit your “Profile” page by selecting Users > Your Profile from your Dashboard side menu.
What you will discover in the Profile page, however, is that your username cannot be changed from the administration section …
So, how can you edit your admin user name?
Change Admin Username By Creating A New Admin User
If your WordPress username is “admin,” here’s the easiest way to change this without going into your server:
Click Add New to create a new user …
Next, create a more secure username, and assign this new user the role of “Administrator”. Save your changes to update your settings …
You have now added a new user with the role of admin …
Log out of your WordPress admin area …
Log in with your new admin details …
You should see your new user name details displayed in the “Howdy, User” panel …
Click on Users > All Users in the main menu …
Delete the old user 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 admin 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 designed for non-technical WordPress users, let’s go one step further and show you how to change a WordPress 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 A Username Inside The WordPress Database
In our example, we’ll be working with the cPanel management application …
cPanel management tool
Log into your server control panel …
cPanel administration area
Find 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 you select the right one …
phpMyAdmin databases
Don’t be concerned about the complicated screen.
Click on wp_users in the left-hand column …
The user name is located in the “user login” column. To edit the field simply double-click on the text you want to change …
Type in the new user name and click outside the edit box to update the field with your new user name …
Log out of your server if you’re done and reopen the browser to your WordPress site. You may find that your session has expired. Log in again with your new administration username and password …
You will see that the username is now updated. However, your site will probably still be displaying the previous “nickname” …
To choose a new “nickname”, access your Users screen and click the Edit link below your user name …
You can also access the Profile section by clicking on the Edit My Profile link in the “Howdy, User” box …
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 user name on your website or blog.
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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