Facebook names

I see that more and more people are changing their Facebook names to something that does not include their last names. This is being done for security, the thinking being that if you change your name, it will be harder for somebody to figure out your history as part of identity theft.

So...is this worth the trouble?

Good idea, but that defeats a big purpose of Facebook, which is reuniting old friends. How can you find them if they hide under psydonames.

Very glad I changed mine; my last name is fairly unusual. Also helpful to keep professional/personal lives relatively separated (even though most of my FB friends are present & former colleagues anyway). I changed mine more than a year ago but don't remember it being particularly onerous.

I am actually rather glad that my niece doesn't use her last name. I think it's a good idea for kids and teens in particular to make it more difficult to find out a lot of information about who they are, where they live, and so on.

Identity theft is a concern, and a possible threat, but I don't feel strongly enough to change my name. A name change would also make it almost impossible for old friends with whom I've lost all contact to find me. I think the potential for finding old friends outweighs the danger of malfeasance for me, so far.

But I'm on the fence about it.

I had a real-life stalker. I can find friends. They don't have to find me.

If you're concerned about privacy, taking a careful look through your settings is a good place to start. For example, my profile is not publicly searchable, my posts and photos are all available to only a limited audience, and my profile picture is viewable by only friends. Cover photos are always public so I don't use a picture of my home or children. There are other settings too but those stick out.

All good points, but the Facebook settings are a royal pita to figure out!

TarheelsInNj said:
If you're concerned about privacy, taking a careful look through your settings is a good place to start. For example, my profile is not publicly searchable, my posts and photos are all available to only a limited audience, and my profile picture is viewable by only friends. Cover photos are always public so I don't use a picture of my home or children. There are other settings too but those stick out.

A friend who is a teacher uses her middle name instead of her last name, to make herself less visible to students. High school students in my district have had a custom of changing their names during senior year.

If security is a concern, it might be a good idea to see what you find when you Google ["Your Name" Facebook].

(Random: I have friended everybody on FB with my full name. There are three of us.)

I've found it somewhat difficult to find my women friends on Facebook if they have married since I knew them and I don't know their married names. Fortunately, many of them include their maiden names on FB for that very reason. But again, I can see the reasons for not providing that much detail, particularly if you are a woman. Although that is a different issue from identity theft.