For online security purposes, avoid setting up WordPress sites with the user name “admin”.
This is the default installation user name for WordPress and one of the leading causes of brute force attacks on a WordPress site.
In this step-by-step tutorial, you will learn how to change the admin username in WordPress from ‘admin’ to a more secure username.
How To Change Your WordPress Username From Admin To A More Secure User Name
Typically, with all new WordPress sites, the first registered user is the site administrator.
The default WordPress username admin is not recommended, as it poses a security risk to your WordPress site …
Let’s change the admin username in WordPress to a more secure user name.
There are several ways to view your username details inside WP:
Click on the Users > All Users section in your 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 screen …
You can also go to your “Profile” screen by selecting Users > Your Profile from your admin menu.
You will discover in the Profile area that you can’t change your username from the Dashboard …
So, how can you change a admin username?
Change Admin Username By Creating A New Admin User
If your admin login is “admin,” here’s the easiest way to change your user name without going into your server and touching any files or your WordPress database:
Click Add New to create a new user …
Next, create a new 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 username details in the “Howdy, User” screen …
Select Users > All Users in your main menu …
Delete your old user account …
Choose the option to attribute all content owned by the old admin account and reassigned it to your new admin, 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 aimed for non-technical WordPress users, let’s go one step further and show you how to change a 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
In our example, we’ll be working with the cPanel management software …
cPanel management software
Log into your server administration area …
cPanel administration area
Scroll down to the “Databases” section and open 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 panic when you see the technical-looking nature of the information on your screen.
Click on wp_users in the left-hand column …
The user name is located in the “user login” column. To edit the user name 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 a new user name …
Log out of your server if you’re done and return to your WordPress site. You may find that your session has expired. If so, log in again with your new administration user name and password …
You should see that the username has been updated. However, your site will probably still be displaying the previous “nickname” …
To edit your “nickname”, open your Users section and click the Edit link below your user name …
You can also get to 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 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 user name on your website.
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"If you're new to WordPress, this can stand on its own as a training course and will stay with you as you progress from beginner to advanced and even guru status." - Bruce (Columbus, Ohio)