Manual:$wgReservedUsernames

User accounts, authentication: $wgReservedUsernames
List of account names that cannot exist.
Introduced in version:	1.6.4 (r13646)
Removed in version:	Still in use
Allowed values:	(array of strings)
Default value:	see below
Other settings: Alphabetical | By function

Details

Array of usernames which may not be registered or logged in from. Maintenance scripts can still use these. Extensions can use the UserGetReservedNames hook to add to this array.

If an entry in $wgReservedUsernames starts with msg: then the reserved username is taken to be the value of that message (in the wiki's content language).

Default values

MediaWiki version:

≥ 1.39

$wgReservedUsernames = [
	'MediaWiki default', // Default 'Main Page' and MediaWiki: message pages
	'Conversion script', // Used for the old Wikipedia software upgrade
	'Maintenance script', // Maintenance scripts which perform editing, image import script
	'Template namespace initialisation script', // Used in 1.2->1.3 upgrade
	'ScriptImporter', // Default user name used by maintenance/importSiteScripts.php
	'Delete page script', // Default user name used by maintenance/deleteBatch.php
	'Move page script', // Default user name used by maintenance/deleteBatch.php
	'Command line script', // Default user name used by maintenance/undelete.php
	'Unknown user', // Used in WikiImporter & RevisionStore for revisions with no author and in User for invalid user id
	'msg:double-redirect-fixer', // Automatic double redirect fix
	'msg:usermessage-editor', // Default user for leaving user messages
	'msg:proxyblocker', // For $wgProxyList and Special:Blockme (removed in 1.22)
	'msg:sorbs', // For $wgEnableDnsBlacklist etc.
	'msg:spambot_username', // Used by cleanupSpam.php
	'msg:autochange-username', // Used by anon category RC entries (parser functions, Lua & purges)
];

MediaWiki versions:

1.36 – 1.38

$wgReservedUsernames = [
	'MediaWiki default', // Default 'Main Page' and MediaWiki: message pages
	'Conversion script', // Used for the old Wikipedia software upgrade
	'Maintenance script', // Maintenance scripts which perform editing, image import script
	'Template namespace initialisation script', // Used in 1.2->1.3 upgrade
	'ScriptImporter', // Default user name used by maintenance/importSiteScripts.php
	'Unknown user', // Used in WikiImporter & RevisionStore for revisions with no author and in User for invalid user id
	'msg:double-redirect-fixer', // Automatic double redirect fix
	'msg:usermessage-editor', // Default user for leaving user messages
	'msg:proxyblocker', // For $wgProxyList and Special:Blockme (removed in 1.22)
	'msg:sorbs', // For $wgEnableDnsBlacklist etc.
	'msg:spambot_username', // Used by cleanupSpam.php
	'msg:autochange-username', // Used by anon category RC entries (parser functions, Lua & purges)
];

MediaWiki versions:

1.31 – 1.35

$wgReservedUsernames = [
	'MediaWiki default', // Default 'Main Page' and MediaWiki: message pages
	'Conversion script', // Used for the old Wikipedia software upgrade
	'Maintenance script', // Maintenance scripts which perform editing, image import script
	'Template namespace initialisation script', // Used in 1.2->1.3 upgrade
	'ScriptImporter', // Default user name used by maintenance/importSiteScripts.php
	'Unknown user', // Used in WikiImporter and RevisionStore for revisions with no author
	'msg:double-redirect-fixer', // Automatic double redirect fix
	'msg:usermessage-editor', // Default user for leaving user messages
	'msg:proxyblocker', // For $wgProxyList and Special:Blockme (removed in 1.22)
	'msg:sorbs', // For $wgEnableDnsBlacklist etc.
	'msg:spambot_username', // Used by cleanupSpam.php
	'msg:autochange-username', // Used by anon category RC entries (parser functions, Lua & purges)
];

MediaWiki versions:

1.29 – 1.30

$wgReservedUsernames = [
	'MediaWiki default', // Default 'Main Page' and MediaWiki: message pages
	'Conversion script', // Used for the old Wikipedia software upgrade
	'Maintenance script', // Maintenance scripts which perform editing, image import script
	'Template namespace initialisation script', // Used in 1.2->1.3 upgrade
	'ScriptImporter', // Default user name used by maintenance/importSiteScripts.php
	'Unknown user', // Used in WikiImporter when importing revisions with no author
	'msg:double-redirect-fixer', // Automatic double redirect fix
	'msg:usermessage-editor', // Default user for leaving user messages
	'msg:proxyblocker', // For $wgProxyList and Special:Blockme (removed in 1.22)
	'msg:spambot_username', // Used by cleanupSpam.php
	'msg:autochange-username', // Used by anon category RC entries (parser functions, Lua & purges)
];

MediaWiki versions:

1.19 – 1.25

$wgReservedUsernames = array(
	'MediaWiki default', // Default 'Main Page' and MediaWiki: message pages
	'Conversion script', // Used for the old Wikipedia software upgrade
	'Maintenance script', // Maintenance scripts which perform editing, image import script
	'Template namespace initialisation script', // Used in 1.2->1.3 upgrade
	'ScriptImporter', // Default user name used by maintenance/importSiteScripts.php
	'msg:double-redirect-fixer', // Automatic double redirect fix
	'msg:usermessage-editor', // Default user for leaving user messages
	'msg:proxyblocker', // For Special:Blockme
);

MediaWiki versions:

1.9 – 1.12

The double redirect fixer has been added in 1.13.

$wgReservedUsernames = array(
	'MediaWiki default', // Default 'Main Page' and MediaWiki: message pages
	'Conversion script', // Used for the old Wikipedia software upgrade
	'Maintenance script', // ... maintenance/edit.php uses this?
	'Template namespace initialisation script', // Used in 1.2->1.3 upgrade
);

MediaWiki versions:

1.6 – 1.8

$wgReservedUsernames = [ 'MediaWiki default', 'Conversion script' ];

Changing the default values

// Add just one user name to the default array
$wgReservedUsernames[] = 'John Doe';

// Add several user names to the default array
$wgReservedUsernames = array_merge(
    $wgReservedUsernames,
    [ 'John Doe', 'Jane Doe', 'N.N.' ]
);

Overriding the default with a bundle of different user names and discarding the user names set by default is not recommended.