do you think your alias made a diff in having buyers check out your images?
not so much in the initial sense, as they probably found your image by keyword , as we don't search under username. but is having a memorable monicker something important?  do you think twice before calling yourself "cara de burro" or "assface" 
do you think that far ahead , in case you should ever become as famous as Yuri.
you would not want the world to know you are "assface"   

the reason i ask is because almost a year ago,
i started out using an extrapolation of my legal name, not wanting to give my real name. but later decided it was silly not to, since i am already known in my cities in related fields .  i met some oldtimers of mid and macro who felt the need to be anonymous , but say if that was not your case, would you still refrain from using your legal name?

just wondering...

My real name is Sloopy Pottydoodle and I find it a bit long to use
BTW tan510, where do you find all of those oldtimers in mid/micro that give you all of those advises, men your town must be full with them, can you ask one of them how I can sell more pictures and post the advise

We chose to use our name. 

Now, when you search out Robert Gebbie, Lori Gebbie, or RGebbiePhoto, it all links back to us.  I think it's kinda like product branding, I'm pretty happy to have such a large web presence with our name.

Gebbie

I do on the photo sales sites, but some days I wish I didn't. Seems odd to have professional photos published with my attribution, and then find my name on subscription photos selling for a dollar. I haven't found a Microstock photo of mine in use, with my name credited, so it's not currently a real issue. Just a potential detraction.

You can look it up: John Honsenboomer-hypendorfer-defendorfer-schwaglemeister

I wanted to use Sloopy Pottydoodle but it was taken.  

You might ask LisaGagne, Yuri_Arcurs, SJLocke, and jhorrocks, four of the top six on IS about assumed names?

What are kids of the future going to do with hyphenated names who marry to hyphenated names? I guess they will start creating texting abbreviations, and names will go down to three or four letters and a number?   #3 on IS is "DNY59" which is pretty non-descript.

My real name is Ivan, and it's never available, and my full name is Ivan Paunovic and it's pretty long. But I have to admit that I wanted my username to sound more familiar to buyers who understand English. So, I have chosen "Whitechild" because when I was little, everyone called me "belo dete" which means "white child" in English. I had blond hair and my older brother had dark hair. My friend from London lately told me that Whitechild is common family name in England. I didn't know it before.... It's strange there is no other Whitechild on 13 microstock sites I'm in.

Well.... LCJ is my initials and Tripod was my nick name for years as I was almost never seen without one. But now with image stabilised lenses I almost never have a tripod with me anymore. A monopod sometimes.

End of story. Even tho assface is quite easy to remember!

-Larry

gebbie, , .. thx for the response. would make more sense to be attached to your own given name doesn't it? or at least your corporation's. however, like jerryL5
mentioned, we sometimes started out wary of that, so an alias was more attractive.
racephoto, i am assuming you meant that LIseGagne, YuriArcurs are real names and not a pseudonym. but even then, sometimes we have cases when a pseudonym become the person's real name after fame takes over. case in point being famous stars and writers.
as for IS's DNY59, racephoto...  that too may not be as non-descript as you may think. eg. tan510jomast is actually the first 2 letters of my legal full name and a specific legal date. so perharps DNY also saw fit to use it. ie 59 could be his DOB, and DNY his initials.
still , like JohnL, all in all, i now wish i could have had used my legal name like Gebbie.

I didn't say that DNY59 had no meaning, I said it was non-descript. "lacking distinctive or interesting qualities" I didn't say it was a bad ID either.

Can you translate this into something that makes sense?  sometimes we have cases when a pseudonym become the person's real name after fame takes over. case in point being famous stars and writers. You mean like Marion Morrison, Arnold Dorsey, John McCartney, or Archibald Leach? Heck I even have a stage name and Internet identity that's different from what I use here or on Microstock.

In which case, didn't you start in the first place saying, i started out using an extrapolation of my legal name, not wanting to give my real name. but later decided it was silly not to, since i am already known in my cities in related fields .  i met some oldtimers of mid and macro who felt the need to be anonymous , but say if that was not your case, would you still refrain from using your legal name?

I feel like we are going in circles. 

Here's my answer. No it doesn't matter if someone uses their real name, a contraction, a totally fabricated name, or random letters and numbers. Most of the time, even in the real world, a name doesn't change the impression of the finished product. People with horrible names are famous, success in their case is based on skills and creativity. There are people who come up with slick pseudonyms, that never make it. One exception is people who bank on famous names that are established, for example relatives of famous artists, who use it to get through the door. Suckers buy that marketing ploy.

Then there are absurd cases like Paris Hilton. 

ps When I started online, before there was an internet, and BBs were dial-up. I was told more than once, "you have to use a real name on our system." before we can open your account. Funny part was, I was using my real name. So I made up a name, which was then OK'ed.  I ended up working for Prodigy,  SBC, AT&T and others, with that name... Only in the recent years did I decide to reclaim my real name on the Internet.

Neither name made me rich or famous, so I make no claims that a name matters more than skills and talent.

I'd be offended at being called "assface' but DumbFart I could handle. 

Right Adeptris, you said it better than I did. Exactly why people use a MicroStock moniker. 

I don't put any of the same material on MS that I do elsewhere, so there's less conflict of apparent value. However if I run into someone who shoots editorial and they see my full name on iStock, I may be catching some flack. One of the pseudonyms is on my license plate, which isn't too subtle, that's what I used on SS, less chance of someone making the connection. Only my last name is on Fotolia, which is vague enough for my taste. First initial and last name on Stockxpert. If there's any brand identity, I'm dead meat. 

It's pretty simple, really

I separate our images.  Micros get our good stuff.  Midstock get the better stuff.  The artsy stuff goes in our private gallery.

i have zero problem with people googling our name.  You want one of my $2 images? Got TONS of them, you can buy them RF at many sites.  I'm sure you can find something that might fit your need.  However the risk is, someone else is using that image as well. 
You want an image taken for you, specifically to your specs/requirements, and licensed exclusively for your use? Then you are going to pay my rate

I have images up on micros that i wish had gone midstock instead, sure do. But, it's all part of the growing and learning process, and it just makes our portfolios look that much better in the end

We do photography because we love to create.  We're still "new" in the business, though, we've only been in micros for a year.  But I named the company after Robert, because he is the creative force, and because it's nice to be recognized for your hard work.

Anyone can "claim" to be a generic moniker, but they'd be hard pressed to prove they were Robert Gebbie

well my name is my dogs name chas and the first 3 letters of my surname mcn becoming chasmcn just a easy to remember name .