For improved online security, never create WordPress sites using the username “admin”.
This is the default installation username for WordPress and one of the leading causes of brute force attacks on a WordPress website.
In this tutorial, you will learn how to change the admin user name in WordPress from ‘admin’ to a more secure user name.
Changing Your WP User Name From Admin To A More Secure Username
Normally, on a new WordPress site installation, the first user is also the site administrator.
The default WordPress user name admin is not recommended, as it can out your website or blog at risk of being hacked …
Let’s change your admin username in WordPress from ‘admin’ to a more secure username.
There are a number of ways to view your username details inside your WordPress administration area:
Select the Users > All Users screen in the 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” drop-down menu at the top-right hand corner of your Dashboard …
You can also visit your “Profile” area by selecting Users > Your Profile from the Dashboard menu.
You will discover in the Profile page that you can’t change usernames from your Dashboard …
So, how can you edit this username?
Change Admin Username By Creating A New Admin User
If your WordPress username is “admin,” here’s the easiest way to change your user name without going into your server:
First, create a new user …
Next, create a different username, and assign this new user the role of “Administrator”. Remember to save your changes to update your settings …
You have now created a new admin user …
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 the main menu …
Delete the old user account …
Select the option to assign all content owned by the old user account and reassigned it to the new admin, then confirm the deletion of the old admin 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 aimed 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 admin 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 Your Username Inside The WordPress Database
For the example below, the server is using the cPanel management application …
cPanel management software
Log into your server admin account …
cPanel admin area
Find the “Databases” section and open up phpMyAdmin …
phpMyAdmin
Click on your WP database.
Note: If you have a number of databases set up on your domain, make sure that you choose the right one …
phpMyAdmin databases
Don’t be concerned about the complicated-looking information on your screen screen.
Click on wp_users in the left-hand column …
The user name is located in the “user login” column. To edit the username 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 your new username …
Log out of your server when you’re done and reopen the browser to your WordPress site. You will probably find that your session has expired. Log in again with your new Admin login credentials …
You will see that your user name has been updated. However, your admin details will probably still be displaying the old “nickname” …
To change your “nickname”, visit your Users section and click on the Edit link below the username …
You can also access the Profile section if you click on the Edit My Profile link in the “Howdy, User” panel …
Choose 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 username and nickname …
Congratulations! Now you know how to change your WordPress admin username on your website.
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