Maybe you should check their policy [1]. Clause #13 states that you should use "the name your friends, family or co-workers usually call you". Their support pag

Maybe you should check their policy [1]. Clause #13 states that you should use "the name your friends, family or co-workers usually call you". Their support page [2] very clearly states that your account may be suspended for violating the policy. Google may have softened their line on enforcement, but unless you're willing to risk having your whole account randomly suspended (along with who-knows-how-many other Google services will go with it), that doesn't really do you much good unless you are treating it as a throwaway account in the first place. [1] https://www.google.com/intl/en/+/policy/content.html https://www.google.com/intl/en/+/policy/content.html [2] https://support.google.com/plus/answer/1228271 https://support.google.com/plus/answer/1228271