Personally, I'd be happy with settings of the form "To contacts in circle X, display the name Y", and "To strangers, display the name Z". Personally I find it

Personally, I'd be happy with settings of the form "To contacts in circle X, display the name Y", and "To strangers, display the name Z". Personally I find it absolutely not acceptable to force me to hand over my real name. This isn't a government service, it is not a financial institution, and with requirements like that I will not be joining. No big loss for G+, I am sure. Just like my absence from Facebook hasn't hurt them. But that is until some other Not-Facebook service does it right, and overtakes both Facebook and G+.