Second Life Guides

Well, there are several important points to keep in mind when choosing your name in Second Life offcourse.

The first is that this choice is permanent (unless you create a new account), so choose carefully. Another important point is that unlike services like instant message clients, email, etc…, the addition of a last name allows you to not have to worry that the first name you want will be taken.

For example, if you want your name to be Kung Foo, someone already creating Kung Chung would not block your choice of the first name Kung - only the combination with the last name Foo being taken would not allow you to create the name. This also means you do not need to add numbers to your name to differentiate. In fact, this is discouraged, as the vast majority of players do not have numbers in their first name. You should also be aware of proper use of case, as your name is case sensitive and cannot be changed once created. You should capitalize the first letter of your first name unless you absolutely want your name to start with a lower case letter.

The choice of last name is a matter of personal preference. You cannot define the last name yourself, but you can choose from a long and regularly changing list of last names. Last names are added and removed on a regular basis to add variety. It is why you may find that you know someone in SL with a last name that is not available for you to choose from the list when you create your account. This is not uncommon, as many names have been retired already or some are restricted for other reasons. There are no gameplay consequences from last name choice.