Changing the public display name of a WordPress user

Decide whether the site should show your full name, a pen name or an agreed editorial identity. Use a label readers can recognise and avoid exposing private information unintentionally. A display name is a presentation setting, not a complete way to hide a WordPress account's identity or protect its login.

1. Sign in and open Users > Profile, or Profile if that is the menu available to your role.
2. Review the first name, last name and nickname fields. Add the value needed to make your preferred display name available.
3. Choose the intended label from Display name publicly as.
4. Select Update Profile and confirm that the change was saved.

Visit a post credited to your account and inspect the author label. Check the author archive and a relevant comment if your theme displays those details. Clear affected caches when the old label remains visible after the profile is saved.

Some themes, author-box plugins or editorial integrations use separate fields, so they may require their own documented settings. Changing the display name also does not necessarily change an author archive's URL slug or historical text manually typed into page content.

Save the nickname or name fields first, then reopen the display-name list. Confirm you edited your own intended user rather than another account. On a site with managed editorial profiles, ask the administrator whether a plugin overrides the author label.

If you need to change who owns a post, edit the post's author assignment through an authorised account; changing a display name does not transfer ownership. Keep password and role changes separate so a simple public-name edit does not accidentally broaden access.

• Changing your WordPress account password
• Signing in to your WordPress administration dashboard
• Writing and publishing your first WordPress post
• Changing a user's role without losing content ownership

• Your profile screen