When I joined the internet, there was Usenet. And Usenet etiquette (at least for de.* which is what I had to restrain myself to due to the general lack of English) required you to provide a real name, so that's what I've done.

This made me much less reluctant to use my real name later on.

However, just as my real name, my pseudonym also stuck and I try to get it whenever I sign up for a service. That way I'm twitter.com/pilif, github.com/pilif, even facebook.com/pilif, though I don't use that.

Unfortunately, on G+, I can't be /pilif. I have to be pilif123459 or whatever. Too bad.