Publishing with a Pseudonym that uses my legal first name as last name I will soon be published at a peer-reviewed journal and this is my first publication in my career. My concern is that I'm Asian descent and have an extremely common last name, and personally I do not wish to be identified with my legal last name at all.

On the other hand, my Asian first name is relatively unique. Also, I've been going by an English nickname since I moved to US, and all the people I know knows me as my nickname since I always introduce myself with it in person and in my resume.

So, I thought I would choose my publishing name that is unique and personal to be

not this:

[legal first name] [legal last name]

but this:

[daily-used nick name] [legal first name].

I thought about adding my nickname as middle name, but this still results in tons of same names due to my last name.

The question is, would this be considered a good idea if I will always use this for publishing from now on? Or would it cause any big troubles in future career, such as employers having a difficulty with identifying my work or other issues? Are there any potential issues with this style of pseudonym?

I read other similar posts about publishing in pseudonym, but the closest I could find to my question was this:

Pen name similar with real name: Zu Yangzu instead of Zu Yang for papers

Choosing my name as an author when publishing a scientific paper, can I use my &quot;unofficial&quot; first name?

What are reasonable alternatives to changing your name for academic publishing when you have a common surname?
I would not use your first name as a last name.  Especially in the West, a surname is a kind of "strong" identifier, and using one in publications that doesn't match what you use on a daily basis-- or worse, that matches the wrong daily name-- could lead to many strange situations.  People may address you incorrectly (Dr. First Name instead of Dr. Surname), enter your data in systems incorrectly (I've dealt with this personally many times, and it is universally hard to get databases updated), and so on.

You should also consider that it's relatively rare to look up an author only by their last name these days.  Once you build up a career in your field, people will remember you by your first and last names, or by your surname in combination with your co-authors.  I've also seen many people of Asian descent use both their English and Asian names in their publications (like, e.g., Xiaoye Sherry Li), which leads to a unique and searchable name overall.

If you really just want to get rid of your legal surname, you can look into changing it. 
 This, of course, depends on laws and bureaucracy, but for people who are really disturbed by their names, it can bring life-long relief.