For online security purposes, avoid creating a WordPress site with the username “admin”.
This is the default installation username for WordPress and one of the leading causes of brute force attacks on the WordPress CMS.
In this step-by-step tutorial for non-technical users, we’ll show you how to change the WordPress admin username to a more secure user name.
How To Change Your WordPress Username From Admin To Another User Name
By default, in a new WordPress site installation, the first user is usually the administrator.
The default WordPress username admin is not recommended, as it can out your WordPress site at risk of being hacked …
Let’s change the admin user name in WordPress to a more secure username.
There are a number of ways to access your “Profile” section after logging into your WP site admin area:
Select the Users > All Users page in the main menu …
Click either on your username, or click on the Edit link when hovering over the username with your mouse …
Or, select Edit My Profile from the “Howdy, User” dropdown menu near the top-right hand corner of your Dashboard …
You can also visit your “Profile” section by selecting Users > Your Profile from your Dashboard side menu.
You will see when you get into the Profile page that user names cannot be changed from the Dashboard …
So, how can you edit this WordPress admin user name?
Change Admin Username By Creating A New Admin User
If your username is “admin,” here’s the easiest way to change your user name without accessing your server:
First, let’s create a new user …
Next, create a new username, and assign the new user account the role of “Administrator”. Remember to save your changes to update your settings …
You will now see a new admin user with a new user name, as well as your original user name (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 username details in the “Howdy, User” screen …
Select Users > All Users in the main menu …
Delete your old administrator 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 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 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:
How To Change A User Name Inside The WordPress Database
For the example below, we’ll be working with cPanel …
cPanel management application
Log into your server administration area …
cPanel administration area
Find the “Databases” section and click on phpMyAdmin …
phpMyAdmin
Click on your WP database.
Note: If you have a number of databases set up on your domain, make sure you choose the right one …
phpMyAdmin databases
Don’t be concerned about the complicated-looking screen.
Click on wp_users in the left-hand column …
The user name is located in the “user login” column. To edit the field 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 your new username …
Log out of your server when you’re finished and return to your WordPress site. You will probably find that your session has expired. If so, log in again with your new administration login details …
You should see that your user name has been updated. However, your site will probably still be displaying the previous “nickname” …
To change your “nickname”, access your Users area and click the Edit link below your user name …
You can also reach the Profile section by clicking on the Edit My Profile link in the “Howdy, User” panel …
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 your WordPress admin username 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