For increased WordPress security, it’s best not to create WordPress sites using 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 the WordPress CMS.
In this step-by-step tutorial for non-technical WordPress users, you will learn how to change the WordPress admin username from ‘admin’ to a more secure username.
Changing Your WP Username From Admin To A Different Username
By default, in a new WordPress site installation, 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 your WordPress admin user name from ‘admin’ to a more secure username.
There are several ways to view your user name details inside your backend admin area:
Click on the Users > All Users screen in the main menu …
Click either on the user name, 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 go to your “Profile” screen by selecting Users > Your Profile from your admin sidebar menu.
You will see when you get into the Profile page that you cannot change user names inside the Dashboard …
So, how can you edit your user name?
Change Admin Username By Creating A New Admin User
If your WordPress admin login is “admin,” here’s the easiest way to change this without accessing your server:
First, let’s create a new user …
Next, create a better username, and assign the new user account the role of “Administrator”. Save your changes to update your settings …
A new admin user should now be displaying …
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 …
Click on Users > All Users in the main menu …
Delete the old administrator account …
Select 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 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 designed for non-technical WordPress users, let’s go one step further and show you how to change a user name 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:
How To Change Your Username Inside The WordPress Database
For the example below, the server uses the cPanel management application …
cPanel management application
Log into your server administration area …
cPanel administration area
Scroll down to 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 select the right one …
phpMyAdmin databases
Don’t be concerned about the complicated-looking information on your screen screen.
Click on wp_users in the “Table” column on the left-hand side …
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 your new username …
Log out of your server when you’re done and reopen the browser to your WordPress site. You may find that your session has expired. If so, log in again with your new administration credentials …
You should see that your user name is now updated. However, your site will probably still display the old “nickname” …
To edit the “nickname”, visit your Users section and click on the Edit link below your username …
You can also reach the Profile section by clicking on the Edit My Profile link in the “Howdy, User” box …
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 username and nickname …
Congratulations! Now you know how to change the WordPress admin user name on your website or blog.
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