I personally decided not to. My husband didn't want me to use our names. We have a family blog for relatives to see and I post pictures there, but the fact I'm talking about "weird stuff" on this one made my husband nervous.

www.onebrownie.blogspot.com

I've always used real names. On rare occasions I wish I had used aliases from the beginning but that's mostly when some one else expresses a strong objection to using real names and I begin to worry. The rest of the time I figure that anyone who knows us would figure out who I'm talking about anyway! But I don't have little kids. 

I use nicknames, but I use REAL nicknames, things that I call them every day.  I just felt like when I started blogging that I wanted a little bit of extra protection for them.  I have one with an unusual name, or an unusual spelling (family name) and one with a really common name.

We recently had an identity theft scare.  Not with the kids, but with the hubs.  I decided that we'd only use MY first name and nicknames for everyone else.  Honestly, I have an uncle that I don't trust that makes me even more cautious (as far as I know, he doesn't know the kids real names or where we live now).  We are working for a little bit of breathing room in the budget to get the identity protection that Dave Ramsey helped create (through Zander insurance).  That's just us though!  I know that my first name is unique enough that if I gave more personal details, we could easily be found.

I don't use my children's real names out of respect for them. I chose to blog, not them. I know that anyone can find out our names and who we are if they really want to; I know that there is no such thing as true anonymity on the internet. However, by not identifying our family, it just makes it harder for people to find out who we are--basically, they have to resort to internet stalking/snooping. But, at any rate, I figure that, by not using my kids' names, the kids themselves can choose if they want to tell anyone that I've written about them.

I use my sons real names because I have such a bad memory that if I made something up I'd forget it.  Truly.  I am THAT scatterbrained!

At first I started using their names because it was just for me then it started growing so I have gone back and removed their names from posts.  I say my booga/little man or munkin doodle/princess.  Now I am more cautious of it now because I am getting more followers.

I had forgotten to check back here from replies. I had also posted this topic in another blogfrog community and this was the best answer I got -

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I actually get very personal on my blog.  I blog about dangerous teen trends & some involved my oldest daughter, who is now 20.  I asked her if she would mind if I blogged about her experiences & what we learned so I could help other parents. So I do use real names. Of course, I don't think I have stated in any of my posts where we live besides the South.