OT: Finally fixed my display name! And a question about privacy

Aziraphale

When I first signed up to the forum, the profile page wouldn't let me enter my name with a captial E, because it said there was already another Elisabeth. So I had to use a lower case e, which has always bugged me. I tried to change it once before, several months ago, and it still wouldn't let me. Today, for some reason, it did. So, yay!

But I have been thinking about privacy issues lately. If I were to use my other name, the one I use when I comment at Already Pretty, would it make me less Googleable? Those of you who use your real first name -- is this an issue for you? I'm still on the fence. I might actually change the display name again.

13 years ago

General

13 replies

Latest reply was from annagybe

Diana

Veteran

My "online" name is more unique than my real first name, which is what I use here. (although technically my YLF username is my online name). Neither of them are particularly google-able, so I've never worried about it. You'd have to know my first, middle initial, and last name, or possibly my first+last+place of work to google me accurately anyway.

13 years ago

Louise

Veteran

I use my real first name, would you be able to find someone on google just with their first name??? X

13 years ago

MsMary

Veteran

It depends on what your first name is! I use a generic'd-down version of my real first name, which is fairly unusual.

13 years ago

Patty

Veteran

How topical--I wasn't impressed last week when my young daughter told me when, for a project at school, she Googled our last name and a pic of her daddy and a pic of our family came up first! Geeze I think there's only one picture of us online and that's it--it creeps me out!

13 years ago

(website)

Veteran

Like MaryK, I use a nickname. My first name is unique. I have googled myself and all I found was races I had run, which is fine by me

13 years ago

Jenava

(website)

Veteran

My name is unique and I use only my first name. Luckily there is also a form of java (called JenAva) that comes up when you google just my first name.

For the first secret santa we did the coordinator posted my full name in a post, and that is unque enough that it came up in google, but I had Greg remove it and now it's fine.

13 years ago

Aida

Veteran

I use my real name, and it's not terribly common as a name but there are loads of "Aida" things out there (the opera I was named after, musicals, an Elton John album, an eco-non profit, etc.) so I don't worry about people searching. I have always used my real name as my online handle (sometimes with other words attached), and honestly it never occurs to most people that it's my real name. I also have several things published through work and also back in University so I come up in searches related to those things as well. It doesn't bug me

13 years ago

Jenava

(website)

Veteran

Aida, I would add a caveat...it you are searching for a job you will likely get googled!

13 years ago

Aida

Veteran

That's true, though if I were looking for a job the things that would come up would be work, school, or music related because they'd have my last name in the search. Generally not much much, if any, of my other online presences come up in those searches; you need the name and the site it's affiliated with for it to come up.

(And while testing this all out just now, I found out that apparently there's an Aida cloth! Learn something new every day )

13 years ago

marianna

Veteran

I use my real name and although it's fairly uncommon, I don't worry about name related privacy issues.

13 years ago

Jenava

(website)

Veteran

Aida, yes, I usually only worry about things that come up with both my first AND last name, although having an unusual first name does make it a bit dangerous to stick to that assumption...but that's also what makes my first name such a great handle!! (-: Plus, I don't think that being on YLF necessarily is a bad thing...people are into all sorts of hobbies....

13 years ago

Janet

(website)

Veteran

I have so much online presence that I'm not terribly worried about my YLF posts being googleable. It's not like I'm posting anything here I'm worried about keeping terribly private.

13 years ago

annagybe

(website)

Veteran

Actually Google doesn't have a whole lot on me but these companies do

http://www.peekyou.com/

http://www.beenverified.com/

Most of it outdated but still scarily accurate.

13 years ago

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