This page explains how to change WordPress username (login) with a SQL query directly in the database.
General user login change SQL query
Usernames are stored in the wp_users table, in a column named user_login (not username, not user_name, not login – common mistakes).
You can easily change a particular user's login by running an UPDATE SQL query, which has the following structure:
UPDATE `wp_users`
SET `user_login` = '...' -- new username
WHERE ... -- something to identify the user
;Make sure to include the WHERE clause in your SQL query, otherwise you assign the new login to all your WordPress users!
The WHERE clause has several variants, depending on how you want to identify the user – by ID number, email, or old username.
Changing username when knowing the old one
If you know the existing username for the user, you can use it in the WHERE clause.
The SQL query in the example below changes the username from "admin" to "wpdir".
UPDATE `wp_users`
SET `user_login` = 'wpdir'
WHERE `user_login` = 'admin';Note: For security, it is recommended to never use "admin" as WordPress username (which is default in a new WordPress installation and everyone knows it, including potential attackers). That said, using the website's name is not much better.
Changing username for user with given email address
Often you don't remember the old username, but you know the user's email address. You can use it in the WHERE clause as well:
UPDATE `wp_users`
SET `user_login` = 'wpdir'
WHERE `user_email` = 'admin@wpdir.com';Changing username when knowing user ID number
If you know the WordPress ID number for the user, you can also use it in the WHERE clause. Note the column name is ID (capitalized).
The example below changes username for the user with ID = 1 to "wpdir".
UPDATE `wp_users`
SET `user_login` = 'wpdir'
WHERE `ID` = 1;