I have the same problem. My real name is nearly as common as the John Smiths and Jane Does. It's also the name of an Olympian swimmer and someone who sells one very, very famous item with her name on it so the confusion would be at best, hilarious ("No, I'm not the swimmer, nor the saleswoman") and at worst would bury my name in search results forever.
I knew that at the outset (2006) so I chose a different online name to stand out. At the time I was the only Marah Marie you could find in Google (it's the name of a poem I wrote in 2002). Now it's a fairly common name to see, so much so that I'm afraid people get it mixed up with at least a dozen others (who apparently use it as their "real name" on Facebook). But it's too late to do anything about it.
On Facebook I use just my first initial and last name (and my account is private - not searchable or indexable). There are so many other women with my real name that there's no point in adding to the confusion, and it keeps things more private - just the way I like it.
"When I comment with my real name? It might take people a while to put two and two together, at best... and it might go completely unrecognized, at worst."
That's such a good point - one I never thought of...that your online name can carry more weight in the minds of others than your real name does in the same forums. But sometimes it's true. If I were to start using my real name wherever I hang out, almost no one would know who I was so it would never be connected to what people already know of me thanks to my use of this name.
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I knew that at the outset (2006) so I chose a different online name to stand out. At the time I was the only Marah Marie you could find in Google (it's the name of a poem I wrote in 2002). Now it's a fairly common name to see, so much so that I'm afraid people get it mixed up with at least a dozen others (who apparently use it as their "real name" on Facebook). But it's too late to do anything about it.
On Facebook I use just my first initial and last name (and my account is private - not searchable or indexable). There are so many other women with my real name that there's no point in adding to the confusion, and it keeps things more private - just the way I like it.
"When I comment with my real name? It might take people a while to put two and two together, at best... and it might go completely unrecognized, at worst."
That's such a good point - one I never thought of...that your online name can carry more weight in the minds of others than your real name does in the same forums. But sometimes it's true. If I were to start using my real name wherever I hang out, almost no one would know who I was so it would never be connected to what people already know of me thanks to my use of this name.