For better online security, avoid creating sites 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 WordPress web sites.
In this tutorial for non-technical WordPress users, you will learn how to change your WordPress admin username from ‘admin’ to a more secure username.
How To Change Your WordPress Username From Admin To A More Secure Username
Generally, on a new WordPress site installation, the first registered user is also the admin.
The default WordPress user name admin is not recommended, as it puts your site at risk of being hacked …
Let’s change the admin user name in WordPress to a more secure user name.
There are a number of ways to view your user name details inside your WP administration area:
Click on the Users > All Users page in your main menu …
Click either on your username, or the Edit link when hovering over the username with your mouse …
Or, select Edit My Profile from the “Howdy, User” menu at the top-right hand corner of your Dashboard …
You can also go to your “Profile” area by selecting Users > Your Profile from the main menu.
You will see when you get into your Profile area that you cannot change user names from the Dashboard …
So, how can you modify your username?
Change Admin Username By Creating A New Admin User
If your WordPress username is “admin,” here’s the easiest way to change your username without accessing your server:
Click Add New to add a new user …
Next, create a new username, and assign this new user account the role of “Administrator”. Save your changes in order to update your settings …
You have now added a new admin user …
Log out of your WordPress admin area …
Log in with your new admin details …
You should see your new user name details displayed in the “Howdy, User” panel …
Select Users > All Users in the main menu …
You can now delete the old user account …
Choose the option to attribute all content owned by the old admin account and reassigned it to your 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 really aimed for non-technical WordPress users, let’s go one step further and show you how to change your WordPress 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:
Changing A Username Inside The WordPress Database
In the example below, the server is using cPanel …
cPanel management software
Log into your server control panel …
cPanel admin area
Scroll down to the “Databases” section and click on phpMyAdmin …
phpMyAdmin
Open up your WordPress database.
Note: If you have a number of databases set up on your domain, make sure that you select the correct one …
phpMyAdmin databases
Don’t worry about 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 field simply double-click on this 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 reopen the browser to your WordPress site. You may find that your session has expired. If so, log in again with your new Admin login details …
You should see that your username is now updated. However, your admin details will probably still be displaying the old “nickname” …
To choose a new “nickname”, visit your Users area and click the Edit link below the user name …
You can also reach your Profile section if you click on the Edit My Profile link in the “Howdy, User” panel …
Select 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 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 the WordPress admin username on your website or blog.
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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