For security purposes, avoid setting up a WordPress site with the username “admin”.
This is the default installation username for WordPress and one of the first areas of potential vulnerabilities that hackers look for in WordPress.
In this tutorial, you will learn how to change your admin user name in WordPress to a more secure username.
Contents
How To Change Your WordPress Admin Username
Generally, on a new WordPress site, the first user is also the admin.
Having the default WordPress username admin is not recommended, as it puts your WordPress site at risk …
Let’s change the WordPress admin user name from ‘admin’ to a more secure username.
There are several ways to view your user name details inside your WordPress Dasboard area:
Click on the Users > All Users screen in the main menu …
Click on your username, 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 Dashboard …
You can also access your “Profile” screen by selecting Users > Your Profile from your admin sidebar menu.
What you will see in the Profile page, however, is that you cannot change usernames inside your administration section …
So, how can you modify this admin username?
Change Admin Username By Creating A New Admin User
If your user name is “admin,” here’s the easiest way to change the username without going into your server and touching WordPress database:
First, create a new user …
Next, create a more secure username, and assign this new user the role of “Administrator”. Remember to save your changes in order to update your settings …
A new admin user should now display in the Users screen …
Log out of your WordPress admin area …
Log in with your new admin details …
You should see your new user name details in the “Howdy, User” panel …
Select Users > All Users in the main menu …
You can now delete the old user account …
Choose the option to attribute all content owned by the old user account and reassigned it to your new user, then confirm the deletion of the old 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 intended for non-technical WordPress users, let’s go one step further and show you how to change a WordPress 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 A User Name Inside The WordPress Database
In the example below, the server is using cPanel …
cPanel management application
Log into your server control panel …
cPanel admin area
Navigate to the “Databases” section and open 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 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 this text you want to change …
Type in the new user name and click outside the edit box to update the field with a new username …
Log out of your server if 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 administration username and password …
You will see that the user name has been updated. However, your admin details will probably still be displaying the old “nickname” …
To choose a new “nickname”, open your Users area and click the Edit link below the username …
You can also access 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 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 dropdown 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.
***
"Wow! I never knew there's so much to learn about WordPress! I bought one of the WordPress for Dummies three years ago, such authors need to be on this course!" - Rich Law, Create A Blog Now
Disclaimer: WordPress and its related trademarks are registered trademarks of Automattic, Inc. This site is not affiliated with nor sponsored by Automattic, Inc. or the WordPress Open Source project. This site and the products and services offered on this site are not associated, affiliated, endorsed, or sponsored by WordPress, nor have they been certified, tested, or reviewed by WordPress. The owner, contributors and/or advertisers may derive financial benefit from sales of items advertised, reviewed, or linked from this site.
***
Did you find this article useful? If so, please take a moment to use the share buttons below to share this article with other online users.
Like It? Share It:
