For security reasons, you should not set up sites with the username “admin”.
This is the default installation user name for WordPress and one of the first things hackers will test with WordPress.
In this tutorial for non-technical users, we’ll show you how to change the WordPress admin username to a more secure username.
How To Change Your WP Admin User Name
Typically, with all new WordPress site installations, the first registered user is the administrator.
The default WordPress user name admin is not recommended, as it poses a security risk to your WordPress site …
Let’s change the WordPress admin username to a more secure user name.
There are a number of ways to access your “Profile” section and view your username details inside WP:
Select the Users > All Users screen 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” dropdown menu at the top-right hand corner of your Dashboard …
You can also go to your “Profile” section by selecting Users > Your Profile from your Dashboard side menu.
What you will see when you get into the Profile page, however, is that you cannot change your username from the Dashboard …
So, how can you change this WordPress admin username?
Change Admin Username By Creating A New Admin User
If your WordPress admin login is “admin,” here’s the easiest way to change your username without going into your server and doing technical changes to your WordPress database:
Click Add New to add a new user …
Next, create a more secure username, and assign this new user account the role of “Administrator”. Save your changes to update your settings …
You have now created a new user with admin privileges …
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 in the “Howdy, User” panel …
Select Users > All Users in your main menu …
You can now delete your old administrator account …
Choose the option to assign all content owned by the old admin account and reassigned it to your 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 aimed for non-technical WordPress users, let’s go one step further and show you how to change your username 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 A User Name Inside The WordPress Database
For the example below, we’ll be working with cPanel …
cPanel management software
Log into your server control panel …
cPanel admin area
Navigate to the “Databases” section and open phpMyAdmin …
phpMyAdmin
Click on your WP database.
Note: If you have a number of databases set up on your domain, make sure that you select the correct one …
phpMyAdmin databases
Don’t be concerned about the complicated-looking screen.
Click on wp_users …
The user name 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 username and click outside the edit box to update the field with your new user name …
Log out of your server when you’re finished and return to your WordPress site. You may find that your session has expired. Log in again with your new Admin credentials …
You should see that the user name is now updated. However, your admin details will probably still display the previous “nickname” …
To choose a new “nickname”, access your Users screen and click the Edit link below the username …
You can also reach your Profile section by clicking on the Edit My Profile link in the “Howdy, User” box …
Choose 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 username and nickname …
Congratulations! Now you know how to change your WordPress admin username on your website or blog.
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"This is an awesome training series. I have a pretty good understanding of WordPress already, but this is helping me to move somewhere from intermediate to advanced user!" - Kim Lednum