Is it important to use a real name or pseudonym rather than a username? If it's something easy to remember and without a gazillion numbers? I'd like to avoid using my real name due to issues with my family (let's pretend it's the Mafia, it sounds more movie-like like that) but I heard in a freelancers advice video that you're not taken seriously if you use a username rather than a name.
A lot of artists use artist names or pseudonyms, but you might not actually know they are, you know. It’s the same with actors. Many authors & actors don’t use their legal name, but the name they make up still sounds like a name, or it’s a nickname, or it’s a name they wish they always had, or it’s their grandmother’s name, or it’s their real first name and a different last name, or they just go by their first name.
Other artists use a name that’s obviously NOT a “real name” and that’s fine too…to a degree. Don’t use something that’s going to sound silly or in jokey later. As you say, no numbers. Really, the rule of thumb is: if you can’t imagine someone yelling it at you across a room to get your attention, then don’t use it. There’s a line right about there between a nickname and a username. Stick to the nickname side of the fence.
A good example of how you can get caught is ComicBookGirl19. She built a huge following under that handle on youtube and social media, and now that she wants to be known as less of an internet celebrity and more of a full person and creator, she’s having trouble changing it. Right now she’s using DanikaXIX — kind of a hybrid between her name and her username — but it’s an awkward transition. See also Flaptraps/Richard Anderson. I’m never going to call someone Flaptraps to their face, sorry. Sparth is kind of the outside limit of what can be considered callable-across-a-room.
Some artists sidestep this and make up a studio name, but in a lot of cases it ends up being weird because humans talk to humans, not to studio names, so in emails/etc you’re still going to need to be talking as a person…so then you’re an employee of yourself? Also, it’s always a bit odd when an individual tries to sound like a studio…you’re just one person, you’re not fooling anyone.
So take your time, and come up with something good, because once you start having a following you’re not going to want to change it, even if it’s really embarrassing (like that terrible tattoo you got when you turned 18 that you thought you’d love forever).
Just remember, when you do take jobs professionally and sign contracts and do tax forms, it all still has to be under your legal name, so it’s not going to be a complete secret unless you change your name legally or form a legal business.
—Agent KillFee