For improved web security, it’s best not to install WordPress sites with the username “admin”.

This is the default installation username for WordPress and one of the first areas of potential vulnerabilities hackers will test with WordPress.

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 user name.

How To Change Your WP Admin User Name

By default, in all new WordPress website installations, the first user is also the admin.

Having the default WordPress user name admin is not recommended, as it could pose a security risk to your WordPress site …

Let’s change the WordPress admin user name to a more secure username.

There are a number of ways to access your “Profile” section inside your WP Dasboard area:

Select the Users > All Users page in the main menu …

Click on your user name, or click on the Edit link when hovering over the username with your mouse …

Or, select Edit My Profile from the “Howdy, User” menu near the top-right hand corner of your screen …

You can also go to your “Profile” section by selecting Users > Your Profile from the admin sidebar menu.

What you will see when you get into the Profile page, however, is that you can’t change your user name inside the site admin section …

So, how can you change the WordPress admin username?

Change Admin Username By Creating A New Admin User

If your WordPress user name is “admin,” here’s the easiest way to change your user name without going into your server and doing technical changes to your WordPress database:

Click Add New to add a new user …

Next, create a better username, and assign your new user the role of “Administrator”. Remember to save your changes in order to update your settings …

You will now have a new admin user with a new username, together with your original user name (i.e. “admin”) …

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 displayed in the “Howdy, User” panel …

Click on Users > All Users in your main menu …

Delete your old user account …

Choose the option to assign all content owned by the old admin 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 mostly designed for non-technical WordPress users, let’s go one step further and show you how to change your 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 Perform A Global Search And Replace In WordPress

Changing Your User Name Inside The WordPress Database

In the example below, the server is using cPanel …

cPanel

Log into your server administration area …

cPanel admin area

Find 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 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 username is located in the “user login” column. To edit the user name just 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 when you’re finished and return to your WordPress site. You may find that your session has expired. Log in again with your new administration user name and password …

You will see that the username is now updated. However, it will probably still be displaying the previous “nickname” …

To change your “nickname”, go to your Users screen and click on the Edit link below the user name …

You can also reach your Profile section by clicking on the Edit My Profile link in the “Howdy, User” screen …

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 the WordPress admin user name on your website or blog.

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