Ok, this way you want to change your WordPress username, right? You probably went to the edit profile page in WordPress assuming it would be a simple change. But… the WordPress username field is grayed out and locked! Oh, and it has that ominous "Usernames cannot be changed" message.
Yikes! Does that mean that it is impossible to change WordPress usernames? Are you doomed to suffer forever from a username you hate?
Do not! Anyway not. This position would be worth nothing if that was the case, right?
Although the software principal de WordPress no le posibilita cambiar su nombre de usuario, todavía hay muchas opciones para cambiar los nombres de usuario de WordPress.
In this post, voy a mostrarte three different methods, depending on the level of complexity with which you feel comfortable.
The three approaches to changing WordPress usernames
Okay, here's a quick rundown of the three methods I'm going to go over.
The first method no requiere un plugin ni ningún conocimiento especial – sólo unos minutos de su tiempo. Básicamente, usted…
- Create a new WordPress account with the username you want to use.
- Transfiera todo el contents de su nombre de usuario actual a esa nueva cuenta de usuario.
- Delete the old user account after all content has been transferred.
A little roundabout, but it's simple and gets the job done.
The second method is to use the free Username Changer plugin. It's super simple and doesn't really require its own tutorial, but I'll show it to you anyway.
In conclusion, the third method is to directly edit your site's database. This approach doesn't require you to use a plugin and at the same time eliminates the multi-step process of the first approach, but you have to work directly with phpMyAdmin, or whatever other tool you want to edit your database with.
If you are a beginner, I do not recommend that you directly edit your site's database. But if you are an advanced user, editing it in the database is very quick and easy.
So which of these methods should you use to change your WordPress username? Okay. If you..
- You are changing your username only once, you just have to follow the first method.
- You want to change your WordPress username normally (or give other users the ability to change their username), then use the Username Changer plugin.
- You are an advanced user and you only want to change your username once, then you can save time by directly editing your site's database.
Method 1: Manually change your WordPress username by creating a new account
This method requires a few steps, but it is quite easy.
Step 1: Create a new account with your desired username
To get started with this method, go to Users → Add New and create a new account for the desired username.
Make sure the new account has the same function like your checking account.
Si estás trabajando en tu propio sitio Web (In other words, you want to change your WordPress admin username), you must give the new account the role from Administrator.
At once, do not You can use the same email address as your checking account. Use a temporary email address for now - you will be able to change it back to your primary email address after deleting the old account:
Step 2: Sign out and sign in with the new account
Once you have created the new account, log out of your checking account and log in again using the new account.
Step 3: Delete your current WordPress account
Once you have logged in with the new account that has the desired username, go to the tab Users in the WordPress control panel.
Then hover over your current WordPress account and click Erase (this is the username you have chosen one) do not want to use):
On the next page, check the box Attribute all content to and select your new username from the drop-down menu. Then click Confirm deletion:
This will ensure that all content you have created in the past has your new account as an author.
Step 4: Change your email back to your primary email
Once you have deleted your old account, you can go to Users → Your profile and change your email address back to your primary email:
Method 2: Use the free username change plugin
Like I said, the Username Changer plugin is super easy to use.
Once installed and activated, go to the tab Users in your WordPress control panel and edit the account you want to change (this can be your own account or that of any other user):
In the interface Profile, scroll down to the field Username. Now, that means that the message "Unable to change usernames" is gone and you get a new option to change username:
Once you click on it, you will be able to enter a new username. Then click Save username:
You should then see a success message, as well as a prompt to log in again. Because your current WordPress username no longer exists, WordPress will kick you out of the control panel.
Do not worry! You just have to log in again with your new username and the same password as before. And that's it - you're done!
Method 3: Edit your database directly to change WordPress username
Again, I don't recommend using this method unless you are comfortable editing your site's database directly.
For that reason, I am not going to be as detailed in this tutorial. Basically, if you can't figure out how to edit your WordPress site's database, you shouldn't be using this method in the first place!
To get started, open your site's database. Your host will probably give you access via phpMyAdmin, but I'm using the Local Manager for the screenshots.
Once you have your database open, edit the table wp_users:
Next, edit the row for the username you want to change:
Then enter the desired username in the field user_login and save the record:
If you are already logged into the WordPress control panel, it will kick you out. To log back in, use your new username along with your existing password.
And that's it! You have successfully changed your username.
It's not that difficult to change your WordPress username!
Although WordPress might try to make you think that you can't change your WordPress username, I hope I've shown you that it's not that difficult!
If you are a casual user and do not want to install a new plugin, you can use the first method to create a new account and assign all your content to that second account.
Yes you want to use a plugin, or if you want other users to be able to change their usernames at the same time, the free Username Changer plugin is very convenient.
And finally, if you feel comfortable editing your site's database directly, changing your username is as easy as editing a record in the table. wp_users.
Do you have any other questions about how to change usernames in WordPress? Let us know in the comments and we will try to help!
