I’ve always been fascinated with the idea of going by a different identity than what you were born with. For instance some actors like Tom Cruise and Charlie Sheen were actually born with different names. I myself use a fictional persona to communicate to all of you so that I can, in part, protect my professional reputation as a marketer in a conservative and currently very public business. This way I can express my opinion without diminishing what my company stands for related to values.
There’s a number of reasons why authors like to use pen names when publishing their works. Sometimes they share a name with someone already in the business or they want to attract a larger audience by hiding their gender or they are unsure of their success and want to protect their personal reputation while they feel out this new art form. Below are 10 surprising pen names for authors.
Anne Rice – Anne Rice was born Howard Allen Frances O’Brien. There is no explanation that I could find online as to why her parents decided to give her a somewhat masculine name, but knowing that her father was “Howard” and her mother’s last name was “Allen” we can conclude that it must be a combination of family names. Anne has also published erotica under the pseudonym A.N. Roquelaure.
Lewis Carroll – In an effort to keep his professional life and personal life separate Charles Ludwig Dodgeson would write his most decorated works including Alice and Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass used the pen name Lewis Carroll. He went to such great lengths in relation to separating his two lives that when people would write to him as Lewis Carroll he would send back the letter stating:
“He neither claims or acknowledges any connection with any pseudonym, or with any book that is not published under his own name.”[1]
J.K. Rowling – Joanne Rowling wrote a book that would appeal widely to boys ages 10 – 13 called The Philosopher’s Stone. However, with urging from her publisher, she would publish under the name of J.K. Rowling so as to remain gender neutral to her predominantly male audience.
Ayn Rand – Born Alisa Zinovyevna Rosenbaum, many have pondered why Ayn Rand chose the pen name she did. Generally, she was a fairly complex individual and often did things for more than one reason. Here are a few speculations as to why the name change. First, she wanted to conceal her Jewish ancestry. Secondly, the Finnish name Ayn is said to be overtly feminist. There are also theories that Rand is an abbreviation of her Russian surname and that she used the name Rand to protect her family still in Russia from Soviet authorities.[2]
George Elliot – They weren’t just another romance novel and Mary Ann Evans made sure of that by writing under the male pen name George Eliot. In the late 19th century most female authors, not that there were many, were known for their romance stories. Mary Ann wanted to be taken seriously as a writer and adopting a male pen name seemed to do the trick. [3]
Agtha Christie – Born Agatha Mary Clarissa Miller, she later adopted the last name of Christie when she married in 1914. As her popularity rose as an author she kept the name Christie even after her divorce and marriage to a second husband. While not unusual to keep the name that she was made famous from, it is important to note that Christie also published romance novels under the name of Mary Westmacott. That’s 2 pen names for one very famous author.
Richard Bachman – In the late 1970’s and early 1980’s Stephen King was seeing rapid success of his horror novels such as Carrie and Christine. But King had more stories to tell and his publisher was limiting him to only releasing one book per year. To avoid over-saturating the market with the “King” brand, King decided to publish under a pseudonym. He chose Richard Bachman; Richard in honor of a famous crime novelist’s pen name Richard Stark and Bachman from Bachman-Turner Overdrive, a rock band that King was into at the time. Even the author’s photo was of an insurance agent who was connected to King. Unfortunately, the social experiment was cut short when Bachman was outed as a pseudonym. Eventually, King would kill off Bachman with cancer of the pseudonym, a rare form of schizonamia.
Boz – Charles Dickens was working as a political and legal proceedings journalists in the 1830’s when he began his career as a fictional writer. To avoid professional set-backs that may happen because of his new whimsical pastime, he wrote under the name of Boz, the pet name of a younger sibling. Eventually free to pursue his own writing ambitions, he again took his name, Charles Dickens. Do you think we’d ever given him as much respect he were known as “Boz Dickens” to us today?
Nora Roberts – Born Eleanor Marie Robertson, this author took the pen name Nora Roberts – shortened version of her name – out of obligation. She assumed all authors used pen names to write with. As a successful romance novelist, she was the first author to be inducted into the Romance Writers of America Hall of Fame. [4] Her work under the name Nora Roberts is classic contemporary romance at its most excellence.
Wanting to branch out and add some suspense to her writing, she began publishing Suspense novels with a romantic twist under the pseudonym J.D. Robb. “J.D.” is the first initials of her two boys. “Robb” is another shortened form of Robertson.
Nora has also written a short story for a magazine under the name Jill March and released her “Born In” series in the UK under the name of Sara Hardesty.
A.M. Barnard – Best know for her work Little Women, Louisa May Alcott began her career writing fiery, passionate novels under the name of A.M. Barnard where her main characters would find themselves in pursuit of their own gains and often seeking revenge on those who created obstacles on their way to success.
Do you know of another famous author who uses a pen name?
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