pen names
Writers' assumed identities
Pen names are pseudonyms adopted by writers to conceal their identities or separate different bodies of work.
Authors use pen names for privacy, to write in genres outside their established reputation, or to overcome publishing barriers—women historically adopted male pen names to be taken seriously.
Mark Twain and George Orwell are famous pen names.
Also called noms de plume.
- aliasesAlternate assumed identities
- secret identityUndisclosed true self
- heteronymsSame-spelled, differently-pronounced words
- George EliotPseudonymous Victorian novelist
- monikersInformal terms for names
Mark Twain · Lewis Carroll · George Orwell · Dr. Seuss · ghostwriting · alter ego · nicknames · artistic freedom · Agatha Christie · O. Henry · hidden identities · gender neutrality · Voltaire · byline · persona · double life · disguise · fiction
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- namingnomenclature, nicknames, naming conventions, aliases, monikers
- pseudonymsalias, aliases, anonym, nom de guerre, heteronym
- literary worldauthors, writers, poets, novelists, literary agents
- publishingpublishers, editors, editor, publishing house, books
- name gamesfamous faces, who am I, name recall, name origins, name meanings
pen namestrue names
Authentic identifying words
birth names · legal names · given names · proper names · Christian names
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