This sucks. And yes, googling my name currently doesn't pop up any results, and I'm not in any phonebook since -as you should know- you can easily call your landline service provider and get them to not list you.
In the third world -where I live- being "listed" exponentially increases your chances of getting kidnapped (even if your an adult) or at least blackmailed. I got blackmailed once by a guy who was in prison. All he had was an old phonebook (in which I was listed). Because of the address, he figured out that I belong to a mid income class, and that I probably had a phone, a PC, some money, etc. He then called me pretending he was a policeman at first, and said that he had kidnapped my brother -who by chance was in class, and didn't answer his phone- and asked for $1000, my computer and my phone as a ransom. Luckily I was able to have the call traced and I got a hold of my brother, but I almost lost thousands to a guy who just had my address, my name and my number and was smart enough to know what to do with that info.
I hope this gives a good idea of why we should ALWAYS have the option to be "secret".
If google doesn't realize this, I'm going to have to switch to some other email provider.