Unable to restore previous username

  • Unknown's avatar
    junglejordan · Member ·

    When I first set up my WordPress.com account years ago, I accidentally typed a username that reflected the name of my business when the account was actually intended for personal stuff. I realized my mistake the next day and changed the username on my account. So far, so good.

    I now want to set up a business account using that original username. I’ve tried to do it several ways, but I’m blocked at every turn.

    1. While creating a brand new account, I am unable to choose my original username. The site says ‘Sorry, that username already exists!’ Well, in reality, it was once being used (by me), but I relinquished it years ago.

    2. Then, thinking that perhaps I could still log in with my original username, I tried it. I typed the right password, but got this error message: ‘The password you entered for the email or username is incorrect.’ When I tried to recover the password, I got this: ‘Account Deleted! Maybe you have renamed your account. If you believe your account is deleted in error try our account recovery form and we’ll do our best to get you running again.’ Indeed, I did rename my account, so why is that username still locked?

    3. Finally, as a last ditch effort, I logged into my existing account and tried to change my username BACK to the original, but again, ‘Sorry, that username already exists!’

    What in the world??? I am absolutely stuck. Does anyone have another suggestion I can try? Or do the WordPress.com administrators have to force that username to be purged from the system so I can grab it again? Please help!!!

  • kokkieh · Staff ·

    Hi there,

    I realized my mistake the next day and changed the username on my account.

    In doing that you permanently disabled the old username, and it cannot be used again at all, by anyone. There is no way to reactivate that old username.

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