All right, you’ve got your shiny new WordPress blog installed, and you’re ready to start writing. Congratulations!
You want to start getting your name and your Awesome Stuff out there. But you notice that when you write a post (or even when you check out the “dummy post” that WordPress gives you, called “Hello World!”), the byline says “posted by admin.”
How do you change “admin” to something more human? Like your actual name?
Simple. Here are three screenshots showing just how easy it is to make this tweak:
1. Go to your user profile
To do this, log into your WordPress dashboard, select “Users” from the left-hand navigation, then select “Your Profile” from the drop-down menu. You’ll see a screen labeled “Profile,” and a short way down the screen (you shouldn’t have to scroll) you’ll see a section called “Name.”
Oh no, you can't change your username! Fortunately, you don't need to.
You’ll probably notice that you can’t change your username. But don’t panic! You don’t need to change your username to change that “posted by admin” text. Read on to see why.
2. Fill in your name and nickname
Just fill in your name, and a nickname if you'd like your posts to have a signature that's different from your name.
You probably want to stick with your regular first and last name in the first two fields. You can get creative in the nickname field, though. You can identify yourself by job title, initials, super-short description, or pretty much anything else.
Although this field is required, you can change it yourself, as many times as you like (unlike the username field).
3. Choose a Display Name from the drop-down list
Now you can choose a display name so your posts will be "posted by" YOU!
Now, after you’ve filled in the First Name, Last Name and Nickname fields, click next to “admin” to open a list of available display names (yes, I know, in this screenshot it’s actually a “pop-up” list rather than a “drop-down,” but the function is the same).
This display name list is automatically generated by WordPress based on what you put in the First Name, Last Name and Nickname fields (which is why if you click it first, before you fill in those fields, you only see one choice: the dreaded “admin”).
Notice that the auto-generated list includes these choices:
- whatever you put in the Nickname field
- admin
- just the contents of the First Name field
- just the contents of the Last Name field
- First Name followed by Last Name
- Last Name followed by First Name
Whatever you pick in this list is what your site visitors will see in that “posted by…” bit of text.
(There are other functions of these three fields, having to do with post titles, search engine optimization, and other internal code-y stuff, which we won’t get into today. For now, we’ll stick to what “Display Name” means to you and your readers.)
Now, “admin” is still your username (which means you’ll use it to login to your WordPress dashboard), but no one who visits your site will see you identified as “admin.” Instead, they’ll see a Display Name of your choosing.
Now you’re ready to post… and have your readers know it’s you!
Got a question? Leave a comment here and join the discussion!
Happy WordPressing,
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