How To Check If Blog Name Is Taken

How to Change the Name of a Blog on Wordpress

By Michelle Mista

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A blog name helps to define the blog; it gives users an idea of the type of content that the blog publishes. Wordpress is a free, open-source web publishing application that allows users to maintain a self-hosted blogs on their own domain or hosted blogs on the Wordpress.com domain. Users define a blog name during the Wordpress setup process, but this name can easily be changed later by accessing the blog's settings.

Step 1

Access the Dashboard of your Wordpress installation. Logging in to your self-hosted Wordpress installation will take you to your blog's Dashboard page. For blogs on Wordpress.com, log in to Wordpress.com and navigate to the top menu bar. Click on "My Blogs" and find the name of the blog you want to change. Hover over the blog name and then click on the "Dashboard" option. Log in to your self-hosted Wordpress installation.

Step 2

Navigate to the "Settings" option in the left hand bar of the Dashboard page. This will take you to the General Settings page.

Step 3

Enter your new blog name in the "Site Title" text box. Click "Save Changes," to save and apply the new blog name.

Step 4

Change the location of your Wordpress.com blog address. This is an optional step and is unavailable for self-hosted blogs. When changing your Wordpress.com blog name, you may want to change the location of your blog to reflect the name change. From Wordpress.com, navigate to the top menu and click on "My Blogs" and choose the "Manage Blogs" options. Navigate and hover over the name of the blog you just renamed to reveal the "Change Blog Address" option. This will take you to a page where you can define your new blog address. You will also have the option of either deleting the old address or allowing the old address to forward to your new blog address.

References

Tips

Taglines are optional short descriptions of your blog. When changing your blog name, consider changing your tagline to better reflect the new name of your blog. The tagline can be changed on the General Settings page.

Warnings

Administrator level user access is required to change the name of a Wordpress blog. In most cases, the user that created the blog has administrator level access to the blog on both self-hosted and Wordpress.com blogs.

Writer Bio

Michelle Mista has loved technology since her earliest days. She began her career as an IT professional in the Silicon Valley. Mista combines her love of technology and writing to write about technology for the non-techies.