My daughter specifically avoided creating a Facebook account until she went to university -- however, one of her classes had meetings which were calendared and

My daughter specifically avoided creating a Facebook account until she went to university -- however, one of her classes had meetings which were calendared and discussed on a private FB group, so she had to join in order to participate in the class. She used an alias that would be recognizable to her classmates -- but, like you, she didn't want her legal name to be easily searchable by prospective employers, health-insurance companies, estranged family members, bad-breakup exes, etc. But, yes -- having a unique name makes anonymity and privacy more complex. And it shouldn't -- it penalizes people for the name they were BORN with, just because they can't blend into a sea of Bob/Joe/Sue/Tran/Wei names, which are more common. The ability to create a persistent pseudonym and to use it for unmuzzled online discourse is especially vital for people who would be all-too-easy to track down otherwise . . . but I think that it's still essential in terms of free-speech and privacy concerns for everyone.