are you using automatic registration?
If so wordpress should prevent duplicate usernames.
or maybe you using a membership plugin that overrides this?
Been a while, spent quite a lot of time looking for a solution for the “name” issue.
Wordpress registration checks if a “username” is already used, this is great.
Buddypress is the problem cause they also add a “Name” field to registration, and this can be duplicate creating issues when multiple John Doe’s appear in my forums and activity.
Solution
I created a dirty solution by changing the label for (buddypress) Name to Username, and added a line of text urging new members to fill in the exact same name as the did in the “Username” field.
Although people can type whatever they want there, I hope most will just copy the first name.
This way the @name and username should be similar on all pages.
Then I also removed the option to change this name in the profile edit.php through CSS so no longer can people change their nicknames.
Unless a code savvy member goes to change the CSS in chrome, then the box will appear and they can change their names.
Wishlist
A solution/function where Buddypress or BBpress copies the username and adds that in the nickname field by default.
Anyway, here is a link to my current register page:
BBFacelook registration page
P.H.
