Pen names and the names writers chose
What are some pen names and other names writers chose?
Mark Twain was the name Samuel Langhorne Clemens used for his writing. George Eliot was the pen name of novelist Mary Anne Evans.
A pen name is the rarest thing in naming: a name someone chose for themselves. Every entry here is a small story about why a writer picked the name they picked. Mark, from a riverboat call for safe water. George, so Victorian readers would take a woman's novels seriously. Toni, a college nickname a publisher printed by mistake and never took back.
Mark From Marcus, of Mars, the Roman god of war; famously borne by Mark Twain, the name Samuel Clemens drew from a Mississippi riverboat call for safe water.
George Greek for farmer or earth-worker; famously borne by George Eliot, the name Mary Ann Evans built from her partner George Lewes and a surname she called mouth-filling.
Toni A short form of Antonia, from the Roman name Antonius; famously borne by Toni Morrison, whose baptismal name Anthony became the nickname her publisher printed.
Maya Here a childhood nickname, her brother's way of saying my sister; famously borne by Maya Angelou, who kept the name her brother gave her for life.
Colette A French pet form of Nicole; famously borne by Colette, whose first novels appeared under her husband's pen name before she published under her own family name.
Nora A short form of Eleanor or Honora; famously borne by Nora Roberts, the name Eleanor Robertson has published more than 200 novels under.
Ichiyo Japanese for one leaf; famously borne by Ichiyo Higuchi, who took the name at nineteen and became the first prominent woman writer of modern Japan.
Ayn By her own account adapted from a Finnish woman's name; famously borne by Ayn Rand, who was signing it years before the Remington Rand typewriter of the myth existed.
Fiona From Gaelic fionn, fair, and unknown before the Romantic era; forever tied to Fiona Macleod, the woman writer William Sharp invented and impersonated for a decade.
Gabriela feminine form of Gabriel, traditionally "God is my strength"; Gabriela Mistral was the literary name of Lucila Godoy Alcayaga
Anne From Hannah, Hebrew for grace; famously borne by Anne Rice, born Howard, who told a nun on her first day of school that her name was Anne and made it stick.
Pamela Coined by Philip Sidney, usually read as Greek for all sweetness; famously borne by P.L. Travers, born Helen Goff, who chose it as a young actress simply for its sound.
Victoria Latin for victory; famously borne by Victoria Holt, one of at least seven names Eleanor Hibbert wrote under, a different one for each genre she worked in.
Ouida A child's own mispronunciation of Louise, spelled the way she said it; famously borne by Ouida, who published more than forty novels under the name.
Eileen An Anglicized form of Irish Eibhlín, also sometimes treated as an Irish equivalent of Helen; famously borne by Eileen Chang, whose school name was rendered in Chinese as Ailing.
Silence An English Puritan virtue name; famously borne by Silence Dogood, the middle-aged widow a sixteen-year-old Benjamin Franklin invented to get published.
Josephine A feminine form of Joseph; famously borne by Josephine Tey, built by Elizabeth MacKintosh from her mother's first name and a great-great-grandmother's surname.
Fanny A pet form of Frances; famously borne by Fanny Fern, who said the name came from childhood memories of her mother gathering sweet fern.
Renee French for reborn, from Latin renatus; famously borne by Renee Vivien, who first published as the ambiguous R. Vivien before letting the woman's name stand.
Langston An English surname meaning long stone; famously borne by Langston Hughes, who wrote under his third given name, carried down from his abolitionist Langston forebears.
Lewis The English form of Louis, famous warrior; famously borne by Lewis Carroll, a Latin reworking of Charles Lutwidge that his editor picked from a list of four.
Richard Germanic for brave ruler; famously borne by Richard Bachman, the name Stephen King improvised from a novel on his desk and a band on the record player.
Robert Germanic for bright fame; famously borne by Robert Galbraith, the crime writer J.K. Rowling invented, named partly for her hero Robert F. Kennedy.
Isak Hebrew for he laughs, the root of Isaac; famously borne by Isak Dinesen, the man's name Karen Blixen chose to be taken seriously abroad.
Chinua A shortened Igbo name meaning roughly may God fight on my behalf; famously borne by Chinua Achebe, who dropped Albert, the colonial name his parents gave him.
Andre an unaccented form of André; Alice Norton published as Andre Norton, expecting a masculine pen name to help her reach the boys' market
James From Jacob, Hebrew for supplanter; famously borne by James Tiptree Jr., whose surname Alice Sheldon lifted off a marmalade jar and hid behind until 1977.
Marko From Marcus, paired with the Ukrainian for little wolf; famously borne by Marko Vovchok, the man's name Maria Vilinska's own mentor gave her.
Vernon From an old French place name; famously borne by Vernon Lee, the man's name Violet Paget took at nineteen so her art criticism would be read at all.
Pablo Spanish form of Latin Paulus, "small"; the Chilean poet Neftalí Reyes chose Pablo Neruda as his pen name
Currer An English surname of unknown borrowing; famously borne by Currer Bell, the deliberately sexless name Charlotte Bronte published Jane Eyre under.
Ellis English surname from medieval Elis, a form of Elias; Ellis Bell was the pen name Emily Brontë used for Wuthering Heights
Acton An English place name meaning settlement by the oak trees; famously borne by Acton Bell, the name Anne Bronte published Agnes Grey under.
Voltaire Of disputed origin, perhaps an anagram of Arouet le jeune; famously borne by Voltaire, taken by Francois-Marie Arouet after eleven months in the Bastille.
Stendhal Taken from Stendal, the German town of a scholar he admired; famously borne by Stendhal, one of more than a hundred pen names Marie-Henri Beyle used.
Novalis Latin for one who clears new land, an old family name; famously borne by Novalis, the ancestral name the German Romantic poet revived for himself.
Saki Origin unknown, perhaps the Persian cupbearer of the Rubaiyat, perhaps a monkey; forever tied to Saki, the pen name H.H. Munro never explained.
Seuss His own mother's maiden name, not an invention; famously borne by Dr. Seuss, which Theodor Geisel began using after his college paper banned him by his real name.
Carson A Scottish surname now widely used as a first name; famously borne by Carson McCullers, who dropped Lula in her teens and kept only her middle name.
Premchand Hindi for moon of love; famously borne by Premchand, the new name he took after British censors banned and burned his first book.
Daniel Hebrew for God is my judge, with the German for star; famously borne by Daniel Stern, the man's name Marie d'Agoult used for her history of the 1848 revolution.
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