A pen name is a pseudonym adopted by authors who do not want their real names published. There have been many famous pen names throughout history, some of which you would be surprised to know was a pen name. Some famous authors who have published with their real name have also published with a pen name! Below is a list of some of the famous pen names (and their real names) throughout history:
• Lewis Carroll (Charles Lutwidge Dodgson)
• Moliere (Jean Baptise Poquelin)
• George Orwell (Eric Arthur Blair)
• Ayn Rand (Alisa Rosenbaum)
• Lemony Snicket (Daniel Handler)
• Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens)
• J.D. Robb (Nora Roberts)
• Acton Bell (Anne Bronte)
Would you ever use a pen name? If so, what would your pen name be? What do you think are the advantages and disadvantages to using a pen name? Share your thoughts in the comments section here.
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I don't think I'd use a pen name, though I can see how there can be advantages. In the past, the unfortunate stigma of being a female writer caused many great women to use pen names: case in point, George Eliot, who is still known by that name rather than her real one (Mary Anne Evans).
Today, I think the greatest advantage is for writers who write across several genres. If you're established in children's writing, for example, it would probably be worth while to use a pseudonym for your thriller adult books, and vice versa.
Still, if I ever am published, I will proudly use my real name in honor of the female writers in the past who couldn't.
I definitely plan on using a pseudonym when I'm published. There are certain advantages to having your real name out there, but for me, just to have my name on the front of a book is vain. I prefer the anonymity of a pen name. My story is still out there, and it'll be good enough for me to know, even if others don't. And besides, if you've ever seen Misery, I'd rather like to avoid any #1 fans!!
I'd be tempted to use a pen name just to prevent people from mispronouncing my real name. Another reason for a pen name is preventing pigeon-holing, at least initially, so that a writer wouldn't be categorized as a Jewish writer or an African-American writer or an Asian writer, etc. unless the books are about the Jewish or African-American or Asian experience. Actors do this more than writers, I think.
i would deffinately use a pen name if i ever got published. i just think the idea of having a whole different identity is cool. i would have an alternate personality that was more famous than me :) i would probably pick something comepletely different from my real name, like Rayne Meadow Lucien, or Calista DaFoe, or Lyrica Ronaldo.
My penname would be Sabrina Wolfe. :)
I would love to have a pen name. I would pick either some really fancy, rare name like Marjolaine Ferdine or something really short, a 3 letter name. I would make the name sound mysterious, just like me. Another reason I would use a pen name is because people always mispronounce me name just like Cories.
My secret identity is *and has been for over 2 years* shewhoshallwrite!
Yeah, i think having a pen name would be cool. My pen name would be Raven Weatherly. Weird huh? The advantages would be that you wouldn't have to worry about people becoming obsessed with you and like hunting you done. A disadvantage could be that people wouldn't know who you really are and you wouldn't get any credit.
I would definitely use a pen name! I enjoy being mysterious and anonymous...I can usually be bolder that way. It's like pretending I'm someone else...Fight Club comes to mind (I don't care that I broke the first two rules).
WHAT?! Mark Twain was not his real name, and Lemony Snicket was not HIS real name?!?!??! The worlds gone MAD! JK, the worlds fine, but I seriously did not know that those names were fake. I would.... I think not use a pen name because I want everyone to know who I am (I'm kinda, well, OK, REALLY unpopular at my school) and I want for those people that I mention in my books to know who they are being mentioned by. Great way to get revenge! ;) ha ha ha but if I had to get a pen name, heres what it would be: Zita Tostita! Yay! My friends call me that because they said that Zita sounds like a Chips factory so they added Tostita to make it rhyme :) nice friends. Or I would looove to make my book a Battle of The Books book, (Im team captain of our school team and we have a hard time with long author names) so then I would make a really fancy name so the kids wouldn't be able to pronounce it..... something like Zitabula Julianna Margarita Tostitia Vorosie (it has my real full name hidden in there.. see if you can find it ;) ) PS! Im reading Ayn Rand's Anthem in class right now! cool! interesting!
I think I'd keep my name, but just use my first initial. It's a little too other-worldly to think about making up a name for myself and then telling my coworkers and students that I wrote a book under a nom de plume. So, I'd just go with H. DeRaps, like E. Lockhart who's written all kinds of good reads!
Well, I probably will not be writing any novels anytime soon, so I do not think I need a pen name, BUT if I had one it would be something really unique and cool (like Ayn Rand?? I mean how cool!). And it does make sense for some of these people to use pen names. All of the Bronte sisters did it because at the time they were writing, it was not very popular for a woman to be published. And with Lemony Snicket, well, the REAL author wanted it to feel real. So he created a pen name that could make the world he created a real world in which the author was writing from actual experience! So, I think pen names can be really awesome, and maybe someday I will come up with one.
Sincerely,
E. Sable Pheonix
I wouldn't want a pen name unless it was absolutely neccesary. The thing is, since publishing has majorly underestimated women for their writing abilities (especially in the past), pen names were almost unquestionably neccesary to get published. Women are getting there today, but society in the business still has a long way to go and has yet to come far enough. So my point is, that if it were neccesary to get published, I would use a pen name, but if not, I would totally just use my name. J.K. Rowling for example: She's probably one of the best writers of our time, but had to go by "J.K." so that publishers wouldn't know she was a girl. Society needs to get with the program reguardless and stop underestimating women.
I would love to write for children using one part of my name and for adults using another part of my name. Both names would be mine but it would keep adults from thinking that I was only a writer for children and discount my writings.
I don't know if I would use a pen name or not...being able to point to my books in stores, or have people I know recognize the name would be cool, but I can see myself getting a swelled head. XD I also think that my name is pretty boring and unoriginal, though, so a pen name would be ideal. I came up with the name "Elinor Gray", which seems perfectly suited for a writer. I like the idea that some people had about using different names for adults and children...
I probably would. My name would be H. Borden. it seems random but it has meaning to me...
I don't know..... I think that it will depend on what all I end up writing. Maybe I'll stick my real name on the fantasy books and, on the off-chance I ever write anything else, I'll use a pseudonym just because I can
I probably would drop the prefix off my last name. I'm not going to use my real name, but an example of my name would be McMurphy. I would drop off the Mc and just use the Murphy so it doesn't sound so weird.