Digital Identity- What's in a name

These are the days where we spend more time virtually than really...we make relationships online, read news online, play games with strangers online, almost work online too...imagine having to work without Google...can you? I cannot!! Can't live without all the help from there...message boards, user groups, tutorials and many more! Such is the importance of that world...Not just work, our personal life seems to be trending towards it too...social networking consuming tonnes of time, not to forget instant messengers (email is almost a passe now :))...We spend so much time that we almost establish a parallel personality there which may or may not be coherent with what you do outside (well, in the time left after all this!!)...What scares me though is this...Employers have started noticing the importance of all this and almost do a profile search on your name in Google before they hire you....isn't that an easy way to find out who you are? For sure yes...Well, they have a good chance of finding out who I am "online" :)..

Goods and bads with that approach though for people like me...I have a very common first name "Vijay"...didn't realise my last name was common too...one fine day, I decided to do some celebrity surfing and put in the name "Vijay Challa" on Google and what do I get back??...a totally different Vijay Challa from some company called OptionMatrix...this person is into Marketing and has conveniently splashed his name all across the internet...so now, is that me? Heck not! But, do I have to live with this...Well, yes..and will my potential employers confuse him to be me...quite possibly!! And what options do I have....Well, almost none except for establishing my own fiefdom...the struggle begins now!! I have to over power his identity with mine :)...

That brings me to the David Smith's, Chang's and the Srinivas's ... what options do they have...Well, how about a name change ?