Are you looking to change your WordPress username but don’t know how? I know how confusing it can be when you’re first starting out with WordPress. There’s so much to learn and remember!
But don’t worry, I’m here to help.
If you want to change your WordPress username, it is not the same process as changing your full name or password in your blog. This process is a little bit different which I will discuss in this guide later.
Also, sometimes, users receive an error message “username cannot be changed” while trying to change the username. However, these types of problems can also be solved using these methods.
In this article, I will show you all the possible methods to change a username in a WordPress blog step by step.
So, let’s get started…
Why Change Username in WordPress?
Before we start discussing methods for changing the username on the WordPress website, it’s important to know why you should change the username.
There can be several reasons for changing the usernames and here are some of the most common ones:
- You created an account with a username that is not professional and now want to use a more suitable name. For example, a tech blog can have a technology-related username.
- Another priority reason why you should consider changing your username in WordPress is for security reasons. Many people use the default admin username provided by WordPress at the time of installation that needs to be changed.
- Last but not least, you may want to change your WordPress username simply because you don’t like it anymore and want a fresh start.
Whatever the reason is, if you want to change your WordPress username, there are several ways to do it.
✍️ Author’s Note
Keep in mind that while changing the username is not a complicated task, it’s still important to follow the instructions carefully to avoid any mistakes that could break your website.
Let’s take a look at how to change your WordPress username step by step.
How to Change WordPress Username (Easy Methods)
Now, it’s time to learn the process of changing your WordPress username. After long research, I found three simple and quick methods to do this process.
We will discuss all of these methods with steps and screenshots for easy understanding. Here are the methods we will discuss in this guide:
- Change WordPress username with the plugin
- Change WordPress username manually
- Change WordPress username with phpMyAdmin
So, let’s get started with the methods.
1. How To Change WordPress Username Using Plugin
The first way to change the username on a WordPress site is by using a plugin. By far, this is one of the most straightforward and efficient methods available.
The first thing you will need to do is go to “Plugins > Add New” and search for the plugin called “Easy Username Updater” in the search box located at the top of the page. After finding the plugin, click on the “Install” button to install it, and then click “Activate“.
Easy Username Updater is so far one of the most popular plugins that you can use to change your username on your WordPress website. And once the username has been changed, you can simply remove this plugin from your site.
As soon as you have activated the plugin, go to the “Users > Username Updater” page on your WordPress website. You should see something similar to the image shown above.
Now, you’ll see the list of all users who have access to your WordPress website along with their emails and username on that page. And next to each username, you’ll find an “Update” button; click on it.
After clicking on the “Update” button, you will be taken to a new page where you will see the old username as well as a text box where you can enter the new username. Once you have entered the new username, simply click on the “Update Username” button, and that’s it!
This plugin will also allow you to send an email notification to the user, letting them know that their username has been changed.
And now that you have successfully changed your WordPress username, you can go ahead and remove this plugin from your website.
2. How to Change WordPress Username Manually
If you want to change your WordPress username but don’t want to install another plugin, then this method is for you. With this method, you simply delete the old username and create a new one.
However, you need to keep one thing in mind that you have to use a different email address than the one you are already using with your current username.
To start, go to the “Users > Add New” page in your WordPress admin area. On this screen, fill in all the required details such as username, email, first and last name, and set a password.
After creating a new user, don’t forget to assign posts to this new user. To do that, simply edit the post and change the author from the dropdown list (you can also assign everything to a new user when you’re deleting the old one).
Now, you will need to log out of your current username and then log in with the new username that you have created. After you have done that, go to Users and delete your old username as shown in the image above.
When you delete an old username, WordPress will ask you to transfer all the content contributed by that user to another username. This is a great feature offered by WordPress so that you will not lose any content while changing your username.
If you wanted to transfer the content to the new username that you created, simply select that option and then click on the “Confirm Delete” button. Once you have done that, your WordPress username will be successfully changed.
And that’s it! You have successfully changed your WordPress username.
3. How to Change WordPress Username Using phpMyAdmin
This is the last method that we will use to change the WordPress username. However, it is a bit more technical and complicated, as it requires some changes to your WordPress database.
Because of this reason, we highly recommend that you take a backup of your WordPress website to keep your site safe from any potential technical errors. Also, if at all possible, try to avoid using this method. But sometimes you don’t have any other choice and have to use complicated solutions to solve a problem.
So, this is the last method that you can use to change your website’s username.
The first thing you must do is log in to your web hosting’s cPanel (or whatever panel you’re using on your website).
After opening your cPanel, now you need to open “phpMyAdmin” for managing your website’s database and changing your username.
To do so, click on the “phpMyAdmin” option as you can see in the image above.
After opening phpMyAdmin, select your WordPress database from the left sidebar which is being used by your website. Once done, a list of tables will appear in the main window as shown below.
In the next step, you have to find the “wp_users” table and click on it to edit. Now, you can see all the usernames available in your WordPress blog. To change the username, simply click on the “Edit” option as shown in the image above and set the desired username you want.
Once done, click on the “Go” button and your username will be successfully changed.
Wrapping Up!
Finally, we have learned how to change your WordPress username. Changing the username in WordPress is very important because new websites generally have a default username that is not secure. Hence, every WordPress blog owner is recommended to change the default username.
I hope you enjoyed this guide. If you found it helpful, don’t forget to share it with your friends on social media. Also, if you face any difficulties while changing your username, feel free to comment below and we will try to help you out.
Happy Blogging 🙂
