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

[thirdblindmouse]

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.

Doesn't it, though? Feel weird and awkward, I mean. When someone uses [what appears to be] their full real life name as their fannish alias, I find myself hesitating each time I'm about to type it, feeling like I'm posting their home address, or linking to a photo of them naked. It doesn't help the awkwardness that I also feel compelled to use the full name. In offline discussion one usually abbreviates personal names to just the first or last name, but online, there's no guarantee that either of the names alone signifies that person (e.g., you could have a person going by 'John Meyer', but also have a person going by 'Meyer', or someone whose real name is Elizabeth something but who goes by 'Jane King' because they're fans of G.I. Jane and MLK Jr.).

(It's possible I think about names far too much.)

[wickedwords]

I know! I throw people off as my primary fan name could be a real life name, and I go by it in all fannish settings, even the ones in my home town. But really, it's not.