Yeah, unfortunately DICE/EA had their heads up their "BUTTS" when they first released BF2... In order to be in a clan you had to use their tag which ment you had to create a new name and start from scratch.
Well back in those days, that's what I did to join [DRS]. I've resently parted with DRS and refuse to start another name...
If they only have prefixes from the start... This won't be an issue.