Similar, except that there are a lot fewer people whose names can't be written in Unicode. Hell, the vast majority of names fit in the Basic Multilingual Plane; you could probably get away with using a fixed 16 bits per character.
If your name doesn't fit into Unicode, get a nickname. Bonus points if your nickname fits into 7-bit ASCII.
Right, but what's the point of Unicode then?
What it's supposed to be: "Unicode provides a unique number for every character, no matter what the platform, no matter what the program, no matter what the language."
What it is: The above, plus "Well, almost every character. Sorry we couldn't
fit your name there, perhaps you should consider a nickname."
Say you want to order a package from somewhere. How does getting a nickname help? How do you explain it to the post office?
I know it sounds like nitpicking, and it probably is, until it affects you personally. I've had my share of "name-mangling" and my name does fit into Unicode (not into ASCII though).
You have a point, but what I'm most concerned with is balancing these two things:
1. I don't want to inconvenience people with "weird" names.
2. I don't want to burden application programmers too much.
Requiring everybody to have a simple ASCII name would be convenient for programmers, but would be a big hassle for people whose names don't meet those requirements. "Be in the Basic Multilingual Plane or get a nickname" is a policy that, I think, provides a reasonable balance. Of course, supporting all of unicode isn't really that much harder, so I think that's a better balance.
If your name doesn't fit into Unicode, get a nickname. Bonus points if your nickname fits into 7-bit ASCII.