For security purposes, avoid setting up a WordPress site 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 platform.
In this tutorial, we’ll show you how to change your admin username in WordPress from ‘admin’ to a more secure username.
Changing Your WP User Name From Admin To A More Secure User Name
Generally, in a new WordPress site, 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 admin username in WordPress to a more secure username.
There are several ways to access your “Profile” section inside your WP backend admin area:
Select the Users > All Users section in the main menu …
Click on the 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 admin area …
You can also visit your “Profile” section by selecting Users > Your Profile from the Dashboard menu.
What you will see in the Profile page, however, is that you can’t change your user name from the Dashboard …
So, how can you edit a WordPress admin username?
Change Admin Username By Creating A New Admin User
If your user name is “admin,” here’s the easiest way to change your username without accessing your server and modifying any files or 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 in order to update your settings …
You should now have a new admin user with a new username, plus your original username (i.e. “admin”) …
Log out of your WordPress admin area …
Log in with your new admin details …
You should see your new username details in the “Howdy, User” screen …
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 user 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 mostly 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 Username Inside The WordPress Database
In our example, we’ll be working with the cPanel management tool …
cPanel
Log into your server administration account …
cPanel administration area
Navigate to the “Databases” section and open up phpMyAdmin …
phpMyAdmin
Click on your WP database.
Note: If you have multiple databases set up on your domain, make sure that you select the correct one …
phpMyAdmin databases
Don’t worry about the complicated-looking screen.
Click on wp_users …
The username 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 login details …
You will see that your user name is now updated. However, your admin details will probably still display the old “nickname” …
To change your “nickname”, go to your Users section and click the Edit link below your username …
You can also reach the Profile section if you click on the Edit My Profile link in the “Howdy, User” section …
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 username and nickname …
Congratulations! Now you know how to change your WordPress admin username on your website.
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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