If I'm not mistaken, the concept of anonymity in Alcoholics Anonymous is a legacy from the old Oxford Group.  Members of that group used only their first names when introducing themselves.  They did this not because they were afraid someone would find out who they were, but because they wanted all the credit for the miracles they were witnessing to go to God.

The practical considerations of private lives made public and finding someone in the hospital or in the telephone book notwithstanding, I like the Oxford Group's reasoning behind the practice of anonymity.  It reminds me that I should in no way take personal credit for anything good in Alcoholics Anonymous either past, present or future.  Every drop of the good is supplied by the Source and I am merely a channel of this good.  The more I can leave "who I am" out of my work in Alcoholics Anonymous the better I can carry the message.