Second Life Login Name, Display Name
A video tutorial from the Phoenix Viewer team.
Here's a short summary about the name confusion.
Login Name: “First Name, Last Nane” vs just “First Name”
Old Login: First Name, Last Name
In the past, sl login name has 2 parts: first name, last name. The first name is freely chosen by user when you opened a account, while last name is from Linden Labs (a list of last names you pick from a menu).
For example, my first name is “Xah”. My last name is “Toll”, which is from Linden Labs.
New Login: Just One Name
Starting sometimes this month (2010-12), Linden Labs made some changes. New account no longer have a “last name”.
How to Login in Different Viewers
If you have both first and last name, and using a viewer that has only one name field, type both of your names together, separated by space. For example, i would type “Xah Toll”.
If you only have one login name and using a viewer that has both first and last name fields, type “resident” in the last name part.
What is Display Name
To make matters more confusing, Linden Labs introduced the “display name” concept around 2010-10. Display Name has nothing to do with login name. Display name is just a name that is displayed over your avatar.
Display name is like a nick name that you like people to know you as.
Setting Your Display Name
In LL Viewer 2, go to the Profile in menu [Me ▸ My profile], then click the “wench” icon at the top.
In Phoenix Viewer, go to menu [Edit ▸ Display Name…].
Viewing Other's Display Name
Go to menu [Me ▸ Preferences] Ctrl+p, then “General” tab, then check mark the “Usernames” box. (For LL Viewer version 2.4.0 (216989) Dec 15 2010)