I chose to use my real name for a couple of the reasons you mentioned: freedom of subject matter and the air of (hopeful) familiarity, and I would add a sense of authenticity. I've only been on Steemit a short time, but I would say authenticity is at a premium. Personally I most value the posters I read who seem like real people who are communicating things they really think and believe in, and I see a lot of posts/accounts that seem to be spam and money-grabs and go beyond just not contributing worthwhile things to adding junk to the stream of content. But I guess that's the kind of thing that happens when money is more-or-less a factor.

Anyway, yeah, I wanted to do whatever I could to encourage being seen and appreciated as a real person, and although I kind of cringe at the wording I'm about to use, I wanted to use my real name as an attempt at helping to "build my brand." I consider myself an artist and most of my other online presences are under my real name too, and I want to do everything I can to not get in my own way.