Perhaps you recently listened to a book by Juliet Hulme or David John Moore Cornwell. Or maybe it was a novel from Chloe Ardelia Wofford or Sidney Schechtel. If these names don't sound familiar to you, it's because you know them better as Anne Perry, John le Carré, Toni Morrison, and Sidney Sheldon. For centuries, writers have been using alternate names, also known as pen names, noms de plume, or pseudonyms.
There are several reasons why writers choose to use pseudonyms, and a lot of other things to learn about them. In this post, we’re rounded up everything you need to know about pseudonyms to satisfy your curiosity and help you decide if you want to publish your writing under a pen name.
What is a pseudonym?
A pseudonym is a fictitious name taken by a writer in place of their real name. The term "pseudonym" is a Greek word that literally means "false name."
Why do authors use pseudonyms?
There are many reasons why an author might use a pen name. A woman writer might have a better chance of getting published if she is thought to be male. This was done frequently in earlier centuries, when women were not published at all. For example, Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Brontë first published under the names Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell. Amantine Lucile Aurore Dupin also chose to use the pen name George Sand for this reason, although it was becoming more common for women writers to get published in her lifetime.
Alternately, to cite a recent example, more male authors are choosing female or gender-neutral pen names when they submit thrillers, a genre that has become female-dominated over the last decade, thanks in part to authors such as Gillian Flynn, Tana French, and Megan Abbott. Riley Sager (Todd Ritter), A.J. Finn (Daniel Mallory), S.J. Watson (Steve Watson), and J.P. Delaney (Tony Strong) are some of today's successful writers to adopt this method.
Some authors choose a pen name to write in a different genre than the one for which they are best known. Agatha Christie published several romance novels under the name Mary Westmacott. Nora Roberts and John Banville both chose pseudonyms when they started writing crime fiction. You will find their mysteries under the names J.D. Robb and Benjamin Black.
Another reason writers have chosen to publish under pseudonyms is to avoid
repercussions when expressing controversial or unpopular political stances. For example, Ibn Warraq is a pen name that has been used by dissident authors throughout the history of Islam. And if an author is writing something incendiary that might cause them embarrassment in their private life, they might want to hide their identity. In the 19th century, an author known only as Walter published My Secret Life, the sexual memoirs of a Victorian-era gentleman. Walter was later unmasked as book collector and bibliographer Henry Spencer Ashbee.
Writers have also been known to choose a pseudonym so as not to put their family name on their work. The poet Pablo Neruda—(Ricardo Eliécer Neftalí Reyes Basoalto) once said he used a pseudonym because "it bothered my father very much that I wanted to write. With the best of intentions, he thought that writing would bring destruction to the family and myself and, especially, that it would lead me to a life of complete uselessness." Authors might also use a pen name if their given name is the same as another famous author, actor, or celebrity.
Another reason people choose a pseudonym is for collaborations. For instance, the best- selling author, Christina Lauren is actually two best friends; thriller writer Lars Kepler is actually a husband and wife team; and Charles Todd is really a mother-and-son duo.
Are pseudonyms legal?
Using a pseudonym is entirely legal. But unless you have your name legally changed to your pseudonym, you'll still have to sign your birth name on official documents and checks.
Should you write under a pseudonym?
If you want to distinguish yourself from your current genre or job, have always thought the idea of a snazzy pen name was exciting, or want to hide your identity for the multitude of reasons above, go for it! But if you are choosing a pseudonym to hide your identity, remember that it will hinder your publicity: a person hoping to keep their identity a secret shouldn't do public appearances.
How do you choose a pseudonym?
There are infinite ways to come up with pen names for writers! You could use your initials or combine the names of your favorite musicians, or pets, or your children. Here are a few ways famous authors chose their pseudonyms:
Theodor Geisel got into trouble while he was a student at Dartmouth College, so he was banned from submitting any more articles to the school paper. To get around his punishment, he began submitting articles under his middle name: Seuss.
Samuel Langhorne Clemens worked on Mississippi steamboats before he became an author. He got his pen name from the term they would yell out when they reached the mark on the line used to measure the depth deemed safe for steamboat travel: "Mark Twain!"
David John Moore Cornwell might have the coolest reason of all for using a pseudonym: He published his first novel as John le Carré when he was an agent with MI6, the foreign intelligence service of the government of the United Kingdom, and was required to use a pen name. (After all, you can't be a secret agent if you're splashing your real name around on a book jacket!)
How do you publish under a pseudonym?
It's as easy as choosing the name: you simply have to decide you want to use a pseudonym and start submitting work under that name. Of course, there are a couple people who will need to know your real name. Be sure to be honest with your agent and your publisher. Once you've chosen a pseudonym, you'll want to claim it as yours, so you should buy the domain name, if you can. You can also register the copyright of your work under your pseudonym, your real name, or both.
Which famous authors use a pseudonym?
There are hundreds of famous authors with pen names, some of whom you may not even know about. Here are some of the literary world's most famous pseudonyms:
Because his publisher limited him to one book a year for a time, Stephen King spent a few years simultaneously publishing novels under the name Richard Bachman.
Gloria Jean Watkins decided to publish her first book of poetry under the name bell hooks, in honor of her grandmother Bell Blair Hooks.
Alice Sheldon thought she would have better luck getting her science fiction stories published under a man's name, so she became famous in the literary world as James Tiptree, Jr.
Toni Morrison was born Chloe Ardelia Wofford. She took the name Anthony at the age of 12, after the saint, when she converted to Catholicism, which earned her the nickname Toni. And Morrison was her husband's last name from when she was married briefly in the 1960s.
Anne Rice used the pseudonyms A. N. Roquelaure and Anne Rampling to publish erotica. And while Anne Rice is her most famous (and legal) name, it is not her birth name. She was born Howard Allen Frances O’Brien, named Howard after her father.
Judith Rumelt is better known as New York Times best-selling author Cassandra Clare. Her pen name comes from a novel she wrote in high school that shares its title with a Jane Austen story: The Beautiful Cassandra.
And though you may not have heard of him, it's worth mentioning the author Lauran Paine. He wrote more than 1,000 books in several different genres, and used more than 70 pseudonyms!
Liberty Hardy is a Book Riot senior contributing editor and velocireader living in the great state of Maine with her three cats, who hate to read. And, yes, Liberty is her real name.
