Nowadays, when speakers announce themselves, they don't include their surnames. Just their Christian names.
The film erred in having the full name declared. It's "My name is "Bill" and I am an alcoholic...not Bill W. or X. Y. or Z. So Joe Clay would simply have said "my name is Joe..." as well as the his mentor,i.e., "sponsor", Jack Klugman, would not have included his last name
you don't announce you're christian name, not everyone's christian, you just announce your first name. however, some people do include a last initial...
shareWhen Days of Wine & Roses was made I've heard that it was common for speakers to introduce themselves just as Jack did "My name is Joe Clay and I am an alcoholic." Nowadays that is the exception, it's common for speakers now to use one name, such as their first name, or a nickname or something like that. I also understand that AA has no rules or protocol, but they do have what they call traditions. One of them deals with anonymity and defines that anonymity is to be at the level of press, radio and films while not mentioning names at all.
shareIn large meetings, like some here in the Bay Area where there can be 100 or more people, long time members often use last name initials to differentiate themselves from the other Bobs, Johns, Daves, etc. This is done mainly for the benefit of newcomers.
shareChristian names? Don't you mean first names? I was very surprised about this too, bec not only it's called A. Anonymous, but Bill W. the one who was one of the founders of AA was a tech advisor
shareWell, like you said: nowadays it's more common to only go by one's first name at meetings, maybe with the first initial of one's last name. The anonymity of AA is not intended to mean anonymity amongst members, but in print, radio, film, and now social media. It was described to me like this: if you have to visit an AA friend in the hospital, how would you ever find him without knowing his whole name?
I've met many old timers (members with many, many decades of sobriety) who freely use their full names in meetings. Ultimately, it's a matter of preference. My first sponsor was from a long line of old fashioned AA, so much of my approach to the steps and living sober is informed by what I learned from him (I was something like 10-11 sponsorship generations removed from Bill Wilson, which I still think was pretty cool).
In the end, if I'm not outing someone else as an AA member, I'm free to handle my own anonymity as I see fit.
BOTH styles are allowed, Many folks in the meetings I go to Just use the 1st name --- AND Just as many use the 1st and Last name
IT"S IMPORTANT TO HEAR WHAT THEY'RE SAYING BUT FORGET WHO SAID IT