WordPress will not let you change a username on the profile screen. The field is greyed out and you cannot type in it. That is deliberate, because the username is tied to everything the person has written.
Before working around it, stop a moment: in most cases what bothers people is not the username but the name shown on their posts. And that one changes in two clicks.
The fix that covers most cases
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Open Users and pick the person, or go to your own Profile.
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Fill in the first name and the last name.
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Under Display name publicly as, choose the combination you want the site to show.
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Save. The username stays the same, and nobody sees it.
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This is a security measure too. When the name on your posts is the same as the name you sign in with, you are handing over half the credentials to anyone who tries. Keep the two apart.
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Really changing the username
If you truly need to, the safe road is not to edit the old name: it is to create a new account and hand the content over to it.
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Back up the database before you start.
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Under Users, Add New, create the account with the name you want. Use a different e-mail address, because WordPress will not take two the same.
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Give it the Administrator role, if that is what it needs.
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Sign out and sign in as the new account. You cannot delete the account you are working in.
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Open Users and delete the old account. When WordPress asks what to do with its content, choose attribute all content to the new account.
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If you want, go back to the new profile and move the old e-mail address onto it.
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The question about content is asked once. Choose delete instead of attribute and that person’s posts go with them, with no way back short of restoring a backup. Read the screen before confirming.
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Through the database
You can change the name directly in the users table with phpMyAdmin. It works, but it is the option with the most ways to leave the site in an odd state: the table prefix differs from site to site, some plugins store the name elsewhere, and one row too many locks you out. If you go that way, export the database first and read databases and phpMyAdmin.
If you end up locked out afterwards, see the six usual causes.
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Would rather not touch the database? Tell us what you need and we will make the swap with a backup taken first.
Open a support ticket
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