On the use of fan names

[wickedwords]

Everyone in fandom has a fan name. It is the name that most people in fandom use for a particular person’s body of fannish work, be it art, fiction, vids, archives, opinion, twitter feed, or LJ. It can be anything: it may be derived from a favorite fandom, the title of a book, or the closest object when creating a new account. Whatever it is, that fan name is important; it is how we know and identify each other in fandom. The fan name is casually used, and has the individual’s history behind it. Even when someone chooses to use a new fan name, somewhere along the way a translation is made, so that the old history gets associated with the new name.

Occasionally, a fan will choose to use their legal name as their fan name. Conventional wisdom says not to do it, but the use of legal names as fan names is something that goes in and out of fannish fashion. In the early 90s, there was a big push to use legal names as there is nothing inherently nasty or wrong about participating in fandom, but as the community moved on line, the concerns about negative exposure meant that more people chose to use fan names disassociated with their legal (or ‘real life’) names.

So while it does feel weird and awkward, if a fan has chosen to use their real life name as a fan name, it is not an outing situation when another fan uses it as well. The individual using their RL name as a fan name may choose to rethink that choice and migrate to a new fan name, but that’s no different than any fan who decides that their old fan name no longer cuts it. It’s tough, but eventually--usually-- the change is accepted. People with wank-filled histories may find it harder to change their fan names, or a translation matrix may always follow behind them.

Comments

[wneleh]

Well, it's "Helen W." backwards, so pretty close to my legal name.

I think what I'm running into is, I don't have a single fannish identity. I sign my fanfic "Helen W.", but I've only been writing fanfic since 2002, whereas I've been doing fannish things for decades longer, using my RL name most of the time. And every now and then I ask someone to rephrase something online so as to not tie my RL name to my fanfic (to my fannishness is fine). And usually they do.

[wickedwords]

Ah! So the issue is that you are in transition, and have a bunch of fan work under an old fan name which was also your real life name. Yes, that situation sucks, and it takes several years of consistently using the new identify for it to take root. it sounds like your going about it responsibly though, and not freaking out when people use the old fan name, but instead politely asking them to use the new one. Go, you, for being reasonable and rational here! Transitioning names is tough, and it takes a lot of work, but it sounds like you're making the best of it.

[wneleh]

Actually, I try to be as out fannishly as I can under my RL name, under the theory that fandom will be respectable when respectable people acknowledge their fannishness. Just, I don't want people finding my fanfic when they're looking for my science.