BuddyPress.org

If you just want it to be optional you can simply modify the code detailed above to make First and Last name optional instead of required or just delete that code as I said then add new fields from the admin for first name and last name.

For my site, I removed the code above then made a new field simply called “Name” that was option so users could share their name if they wanted to, but their username is still used around the site.