The pre_comment_author_name filter allows you to modify a comment author’s name before the comment is created or updated.

It’s evaluated in:

• sanitize_comment_cookies()
• wp_filter_comment()

The value of pre_comment_author_name is also filtered through:

• sanitize_text_field
• and wp_filter_kses
• and _wp_specialchars on priority 30 in wp-includes/default-filters.php

Example:

Let’s say you want to prefix commenters’ names with the word ‘Admin’ if they are administrators on your site. The following example will turn ‘Some Name’ into ‘Admin: Some Name’.

We’ll use the manage_options capability to determine if the commenter is an admin, and if so, filter the name. If they don’t have the capability (aren’t an admin), we’ll return the name unfiltered.