Apen name ornom-de-plume is apseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by anauthor and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name.
A pen name may be used to make the author's name more distinctive, to disguise the author's gender, to distance the author from their other works, to protect the author from retribution for their writings, to merge multiple persons into a single identifiable author, or for any of several reasons related to the marketing or aesthetic presentation of the work.[1]
The author's real identity may be known only to the publisher or may become common knowledge. In some cases, such as those ofElena Ferrante andTorsten Krol, a pen name may preserve an author's long-termanonymity.
Pen name is formed by joiningpen withname. Its earliest use in English is in the 1860s, in the writings ofBayard Taylor.[2]
The French-language phrasenom de plume is used as a synonym for "pen name"[3] (plume means 'pen'). However, it is not the French usage, according toH. W. Fowler and F. G. Fowler inThe King's English, but instead a "back-translation" from English. The French usage isnom de guerre (a more generalised term for 'pseudonym').[4] Sinceguerre means 'war' in French,nom de guerre confused some English speakers, who "corrected" the French metaphor.[5] This phrase precedes "pen name", being attested toThe Knickerbocker, in 1841.[3]
An author may use a pen name if their real name is likely to be confused with that of another author or other significant individual. For instance, in 1899 the British politicianWinston Churchill wrote under the nameWinston S. Churchill to distinguish his writings from those of theAmerican novelist of the same name.
An author may use a pen name implying a rank or title which they have never actually held.William Earl Johns wrote under the name "Capt. W. E. Johns" although the highest army rank he held was actinglieutenant and his highest air force rank wasflying officer.
Authors who regularly write in more than one genre may use different pen names for each, either in an attempt to conceal their true identity or even after their identity is known.Romance writerNora Roberts writeserotic thrillers under the pen name J. D. Robb (such books were originally listed as by "J. D. Robb" and are now titled "Nora Roberts writing as J. D. Robb"); Scots writerIain Banks wrote mainstream or literary fiction under his own name andscience fiction under Iain M. Banks;Samuel Langhorne Clemens used the aliases Mark Twain and Sieur Louis de Conte for different works. Similarly, an author who writes both fiction and non-fiction (such as the mathematician and fantasy writer Charles Dodgson, who wrote asLewis Carroll) may use a pseudonym for fiction writing. Science fiction authorHarry Turtledove has used the name H. N. Turtletaub for some historical novels he has written because he and his publisher felt that the presumed lower sales of those novels might hurt bookstore orders for the novels he writes under his name.
Even within the same genre, authors may use a pen name if their better-known name may lead potential readers to misunderstand the nature of the book. In children'spicture books,Dr. Seuss — itself a whimsical pen name for Theodor Geisel originating when he was banned from illustrating forhis college humor magazine due to illegal drinking — used the name "Theo. LeSieg," "LeSieg" being "Geisel" spelled backward, on books he wrote but did not illustrate. Geisel's bestselling books had become associated with a very recognizable art style, which the LeSieg books lacked. Later in his career, Geisel did publish two books illustrated by others under his primary pen name, and following his death the LeSieg books have been reissued as by Dr. Seuss, "writing as Theo. LeSieg."
Occasionally, a pen name is employed to avoid overexposure. Prolific authors forpulp magazines often had two and sometimes three short stories appearing in one issue of a magazine; the editor would create several fictitious author names to hide this from readers.Robert A. Heinlein wrote stories under the pseudonyms of Anson MacDonald (a combination of his middle name and his then-wife's maiden name) and Caleb Strong so that more of his works could be published in a single magazine.Stephen King published four novels under the nameRichard Bachman because publishers did not feel the public would buy more than one novel per year from a single author.[6] Eventually, after critics found a large number of style similarities, publishers revealed Bachman's true identity.
Sometimes a pen name is used because an author believes that their name does not suit the genre they are writing in. Western novelist Pearl Gray dropped his first name and changed the spelling of his last name toZane Grey because he believed that his real name did not suit the Western genre. Romance novelistAngela Knight writes under that name instead of her actual name (Julie Woodcock) because of thedouble entendre of her surname in the context of that genre.Romain Gary, who was a well-known French writer, decided in 1973 to write novels in a different style under the nameÉmile Ajar and even asked his cousin's son to impersonate Ajar; thus he received themost prestigious French literary prize twice, which is forbidden by the prize rules. He revealed the affair in a book he sent his editor just before committing suicide in 1980.
A pen name may be shared by different writers to suggest continuity of authorship. Thus theBessie Bunter series of English boarding school stories, initially written by the prolificCharles Hamilton under the name Hilda Richards, was taken on by other authors who continued to use the same pen name.
In some forms of fiction, the pen name adopted is the name of the lead character, to suggest to the reader that the book is an autobiography of a real person.Daniel Handler used the pseudonymLemony Snicket to present hisA Series of Unfortunate Events books as memoirs by an acquaintance of the main characters. Some, however, do this to fit a certain theme. One example,Pseudonymous Bosch, used his pen name just to expand the theme of secrecy inThe Secret Series.
Authors also may occasionally choose pen names to appear in more favorable positions inbookshops orlibraries, to maximize visibility when placed on shelves that are conventionally arranged alphabetically moving horizontally, then upwards vertically.[7]
Some female authors have used pen names to ensure that their works were accepted by publishers and/or the public. Such is the case of Peru'sClarinda, whose work was published in the early 17th century. More often, women have adopted masculine pen names. This was common in the 19th century when women were beginning to make inroads into literature but, it was felt they would not be taken as seriously by readers as male authors. For example, Mary Ann Evans wrote under the pen nameGeorge Eliot; and Amandine Aurore Lucile Dupin, and Baronne Dudevant, used the pseudonymGeorge Sand.Charlotte,Emily, andAnne Brontë published under the names Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell, respectively. French-Savoyard writer and poetAmélie Gex chose to publish as Dian de Jeânna ("John, son of Jane") during the first half of her career.Karen Blixen's very successfulOut of Africa (1937) was originally published under the pen name Isak Dinesen.Victoria Benedictsson, a Swedish author of the 19th century, wrote under the name Ernst Ahlgren. Thescience fiction author Alice B. Sheldon for many years published under the masculine name ofJames Tiptree, Jr., the discovery of which led to a deep discussion of gender in the genre.
More recently, women who write in genres commonly written by men sometimes choose to use initials, such asK. A. Applegate,C. J. Cherryh,P. N. Elrod,D. C. Fontana,S. E. Hinton,G. A. Riplinger,J. D. Robb, andJ. K. Rowling[a], who also writes theCormoran Strike series of crime fiction novels under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith. Alternatively, they may use a unisex pen name, such asRobin Hobb (the second pen name of novelistMargaret Astrid Lindholm Ogden).
Acollective name, also known as ahouse name, is published under one pen name for works by the same publishing house even though more than one author may have contributed to the series. Novellas and paperback books credited toMaxwell Grant, featuring the adventures ofThe Shadow, were written largely byWalter B. Gibson but other writers contributed to the series. The erotic-adventuresSlocum series of westerns were all credited to Jake Logan, but many different authors actually wrote the books.
In some cases, the first books in a series were written by one writer but subsequent books were written byghostwriters. For instance,Leslie Charteris wrote the early volumes ofThe Saint adventure series, but he supervised and edited the works of ghostwriters for the remainder of the series. Similarly,Nancy Drew mystery books are published as though they were written byCarolyn Keene,The Hardy Boys books are published as the work ofFranklin W. Dixon, andThe Bobbsey Twins series are credited toLaura Lee Hope, although numerous authors have been involved in each series.Erin Hunter, the author of theWarriors novel series, is a collective pen name used by authorsKate Cary,Cherith Baldry,Tui T. Sutherland, and the editorVictoria Holmes.
Collaborative authors may also have their works published under a single pen name. Frederic Dannay and Manfred B. Lee published their mystery novels and stories under the pen nameEllery Queen, which was also used to publish the work of several ghostwriters they commissioned. The writers ofAtlanta Nights, a deliberately bad book intended to embarrass the publishing firmPublishAmerica,[citation needed] used the pen name Travis Tea. Additionally, the credited author ofThe Expanse,James S. A. Corey, is an amalgam of the middle names of collaborating writersDaniel Abraham andTy Franck respectively, while S. A. is the initials of Abraham's daughter. Sometimes multiple authors will write related books under the same pseudonym; examples includeT. H. Lain in fiction.[9] The Australian fiction collaborators who write under the pen nameAlice Campion are a group of women who have so far writtenThe Painted Sky (2015) andThe Shifting Light (2017).[10][11]
In the 1780s,The Federalist Papers were written under the pseudonym "Publius" byAlexander Hamilton,James Madison, andJohn Jay. The three men chose the name "Publius" because it recalled the founder of the Roman Republic and using it implied a positive intention.[12]
Inpure mathematics,Nicolas Bourbaki is the pseudonym of a group of mostly French-connected mathematicians attempting to expose the field in an axiomatic and self-contained, encyclopedic form.[13]
A pseudonym may be used to protect the writer of exposé books about espionage or crime. Former SAS soldier Steven Billy Mitchell used the pseudonymAndy McNab for his book about a failedSAS mission titledBravo Two Zero. The nameIbn Warraq ("son of a papermaker") has been used by dissident Muslim authors. AuthorBrian O'Nolan used the pen names Flann O'Brien and Myles na gCopaleen for his novels and journalistic writing from the 1940s to the 1960s because Irishcivil servants were not permitted at that time to publish political writings.[14] The identity of the enigmatic twentieth-century novelistB. Traven has never been conclusively revealed, despite thorough research.[15]
Amultiple-use name oranonymity pseudonym is a pseudonym open for anyone to use and these have been adopted by various groups, often as a protest against the cult of individual creators. In Italy, two anonymous groups of writers have gained some popularity with the collective names ofLuther Blissett andWu Ming.
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Wuxia novelistLouis Cha uses the pen name Gum Yoong (金庸) by taking apart the components of the Chinese character in his given name (鏞) from his birth nameCha Leung-yung (查良鏞).
In Indian languages, writers may put a pen name at the end of their names, likeRamdhari Singh Dinkar. Some writers, likeFiraq Gorakhpuri, wrote only under a pen name.
In early Indian literature, authors considered the use of names egotistical. Because names were avoided, it is difficult to trace the authorship of many earlier literary works from India. Later writers adopted the practice of using the name of their deity of worship or Guru's name as their pen name. In this case, typically the pen name would be included at the end of the prose or poetry.
Composers of Indian classical music used pen names in compositions to assert authorship, includingSadarang, Gunarang (Fayyaz Ahmed Khan), Ada Rang (court musician ofMuhammad Shah), Sabrang (Bade Ghulam Ali Khan), and Ramrang (Ramashreya Jha). Other compositions are apocryphally ascribed to composers with their pen names.
Japanese poets who writehaiku often use ahaigō (俳号). The haiku poetMatsuo Bashō had used two other haigō before he became fond of a banana plant (bashō) that had been given to him by a disciple and started using it as his pen name at the age of 36.
Similar to a pen name,Japanese artists usually have agō orart-name, which might change a number of times during their career. In some cases, artists adopted differentgō at different stages of their career, usually to mark significant changes in their life. One of the most extreme examples of this isHokusai, who in the period 1798 to 1806 alone used no fewer than six.Manga artist Ogure Ito uses the pen nameOh! great because his real name Ogure Ito is roughly how the Japanese pronounce "oh great".
Ashâ'er (Persian from Arabic, for poet) (apoet who writesshe'rs inUrdu orPersian) almost always has a "takhallus", a pen name, traditionally placed at the end of the name (often marked by a graphical sign ـؔ placed above it) when referring to the poet by his full name. For example,Hafez is a pen-name forShams al-Din, and thus the usual way to refer to him would beShams al-Din Hafez or justHafez.Mirza Asadullah Baig Khan (his official name and title) is referred to asMirza Asadullah KhanGhalib, or justMirza Ghalib.
