Your team name is your exclusive name and others cannot use it while your first name can be the same as others. Team name is like your last name, family name in real life. There’s nothing special about it.
In the CBT2 is was possible to change the team name any time even if you already had characters. They would simply use the name family name. Seemed a ittle weird for me especially since chatting and stuff is done via family name and it’s very confusing for others. Maybe they wanted to test this feature though and won’t make it that easy available in relese version.
OH. I didn’t know that other players can have the same name too…So no one has to be worried about their character names being taken, right?
Yes, everyone can use Kirito as first name and use their own last name/team name to separate their character’s name from others. Kirito Badass, Kirito Handsome, Kirito Kirigaya, Kirito SAO, Kirito xxx, Kirito XYZ, etc.
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That’s true but other players will usually refer to you by your last name only. You last name is what players see during chat / in their friends list etc. There’s even an option to completely hide the first name under each character so you will only see the last name and never the first name.
Yeah, I seriously doubt they’ll keep the Team name changing feature, at least for free. However, I feel like the first name changing feature is somewhat likely to stay. But agreed, it was a weird concept to have in the first place, but I suppose it was to allow others to get used to the Team name system and find something they like.
We better hope that chat messages do not display the family name… 
It’s the only way to identify the user. Otherwise if you read a message by “John” you wouldn’t know if that’s your friend, a random guy or maybe a scammer.
Oh wow I got it the other way around. Gotta fix my post! Thanks Flash.
This is the first time i’ve seen first name mentioned as optional! in the first two cbt’s could you choose a team name and then leave your characters first names blank? That’d be good for me, haha.
You can’t leave your character name blank. Why @Sourpuss said it was optional is beyond me, lol.
Anyway, here is a visual explanation of the naming system.
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Ty for taking the time to explain, Kiyoshiro.
It’s optional / arbitrary to make visible, as @Flash said. It’s also arbitrary in the sense that it’s seemingly only used for personal flair. I should have chosen better wording.
I figured as much tbh, but I figured i’d double check in case I missed something. I’m still debating whether to go with the team name as a pseudo first name by keeping their first names not visible… or try to choose a last name that actually works well with different first names for me. 
Yeah, I don’t really like the system (or first and last name systems in general), but I guess I’ll settle with just having one decent name across all characters versus thinking up a bunch of full name combos.
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So we can disable the team names if we want (or hide them)?
This is a litte confusing, so from what I understood we all have to use a unique family name which will be attached to all our characters, we can use any first name and it is optional to hide it?
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Yup, and your family name is the one shown in chat log, in your friendlist, etc
No, the team name is unable to be hidden. Only the first name. Essentially you have one name for all your characters, with the option to add a little flair to each of them with an individual first name (of which can be hidden).
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I’ve a question regarding Team Names.
Is there any restriction to what letters/symbol we can and cannot use?
For example, a space in between the Team Name, or even a hyphen, here’s an example -
du Rioux-Bellegarde.
Thanks in advance!