Facebook says almost 6 million usernames are taken in two days

Almost 6 million Facebook user nicknames have been taken. Get yours before it's gone.

Last weekend, Facebook members were given the opportunity to claim nicknames or vanity names for use on the website for the first time. "We didn't quite know what to expect," Larry Yu, Facebook spokesman, said in a telephone interview today with DailyFinance. The site handled the increase in traffic well, he said, as users raced to claim their name.

Through the end of the day June 14, about 5.75 million user names, or about three million a day for two days, have been taken by existing Facebook members. A word of warning from Yu though: Facebook can take back any name at any time for any reason.