Using an alternative name part of the way through my academic career For the first 11 years of my career, I worked as an academic in my home country. I moved to the United States two years ago to begin a new faculty position at a flagship state university.  During these 13 years, I have used my full name as my "academic" name (as would be the usual practice). However, I have noticed that a number of my English speaking colleagues find it hard not to snicker at my name. And I do not entirely blame them. They do not mean to be impolite: my native language name sounds like a rather crude phrase in English. 

Although this is not my name, the Korean name Yu Seok Beom 유석범 (You Suck Bum) is an example of such a name. (Unfortunately, my name sounds like a much more vulgar phrase in English than just "you suck bum.") I have considered going by my initials, however I have had a few journals that still would highly prefer I use a non-initial name to identify myself ("for indexing purposes"). Furthermore, my initials plus my surname create only a slightly less crude variant of the vulgar phrase my full name sounds like, so the issue is not fully solved. 

My latest idea is to begin using an English name that sounds good with my surname. However, I fear that this will create confusion as to my academic profile. I have numerous papers and connections in which I am known by my actual name. I do not want to lose 13 years of academic name recognition (not that I am that famous).

How should I handle having an academic profile built on a name that sounds like a vulgar phrase in English? Should I just proceed forward and embrace the fact that my name sounds like I am spewing an obscenity, or should I try to build a new era of my academic career with a new name?
A difficult question to answer as, ultimately, this is quite personal. It is "what are you willing to put up with" mixed with "how much of your own personal identity do you ascribe to your name"? 

I have a colleague who has had (at least) three different names during their academic publishing career and no one knows how to cite their work: do we convert publications under old names to new names? I also constantly have to tell students and other scholars "that's the same person...". It isn't great. Perhaps if you have a colleague that has changed their name due to marriage or other circumstances, you might discuss with them their experiences of building a profile anew. 

One thing is for certain: if you don't change the name you use, you'll be memorable to the readers of your work. You'll come to mind before Jane Smith and John Jones.