diff --git a/pycognito/__init__.py b/pycognito/__init__.py
index bd28318a..f0c56596 100644
--- a/pycognito/__init__.py
+++ b/pycognito/__init__.py
@@ -310,6 +310,13 @@ def get_user_obj(
         what we'd like to display to the users
         :return: dictionary of the Cognito user response
         """
+        # try to detect the username from self or from the metadata if not set
+        if username is None:
+            if metadata is None:
+                username = self.username
+            else:
+                username = self.username or metadata.get("username")
+
         return self.user_class(
             username=username,
             attribute_list=attribute_list,