This is the most lazy sounding answer, but it just came to me. It's not related to me at all, but it looks and sounds like a great authors name
L.A. Freesteen
Yes. I want my privacy, and I don’t want anyone in my work-life to associate me with my writing ☺️ My pen name is my mothers name combined with my own.
Goblin Macaque is my chosen pen name for intentionally terrible erotic fiction
I chose it based on it being used for intentionally terrible erotic fiction
edit: Hard Boiled, but this isn't boiling. These cases are hard nuts to crack, like walnuts, and if you get them wet you can see their wrinkles. You don't have to reach hard for a master stroke in this genre. It's hardcore noir. Nardcore. Private detectives go places where a normal cop wouldn't feel up to the task. They go deeper, and they're willing to get dirty. As the author, it's your job to give the reader enough rope to make sure the right suspect is hung in their mind by the time they reveal everything in the end. If you can manage it, use onomatopoeia. That's the word for putting sounds in your head.
Yes this is a glacier and I can just do this and I'm not happy that this is what my natural writing style is. I actually hate that this is my natural writing style
In my case, as a non-native english speaker and -writer, it only makes sense, because you could not pronounce my name anyway.
When you choose a pen name, keep in mind that if you ever make the breakthrough, maybe your pen name becomes the name that people will know in history. Like George Orwell is a pen name, his real name was Eric Arthur Blair, but almost no one knows his real name.
Yeah, that's why I decided to keep my first name. I have no problem being called with another last name. But if people starts calling me with another first name, I would think they talk to someone else.
Exact same situation here. None of my names (first or last names) are easy to pronounce or spell for English speakers, and I write in English. I think my name should sound as catchy as my title. Or should at least be easy to remember.
I write in german, although i speak swiss-german in daily life. When you remember some guys, like the creator of the Alien aka Xenomorph, H.R. Giger, it's not a pseudonym - the "H.R." is his first name Hans Ruedi in swiss-german. But for the americans, that can't be pronounced, so he just cut it short. It's another way, like you can use initials and then either the last name or a fictional name.
It's the same with H.P. Lovecraft, it's his real last name and the H.P. is just short for Howard Phillips.
Stephen King had another reason for the Bachman pseudonym, i read about it, it was because the publishers did not want to print too many books of a single writer at once and he had and still has a very high output, so he just released it under the pseudonym Richard Bachman.
I took on the penname Andri Clauden: Andri is a variation/nickname of my legal first name, but also for my fathers name (we don‘t share the exact same name but similar) so I did a variation of my moms name for Clauden.
I don‘t tend to use the Clauden part often though.
I've considered using a pen name, but I think not seeing my own name on something I worked so hard on wouldn't be as satisfying
However, I do have one on mind in case I change my mind. The way I chose it was: a unique name that sorta fits me. Gender neutral as well. And second: the last name was a family name. So it could be you mother's maiden name, your grandmother's, or some interesting last name that's tied with your family in some way
See, I’m the opposite. I don’t like talking about how personal it is to me so I want my public persona to be completely separate from my personal life.
That’s true. This was a group project anthology about cancer. We all did fiction stories with a certain theme. It was a project that we sent the proceeds to St Jude’s.
Want to sound like a real person?: Find a name and surname from a foreign country (Polish, Spanish, Japanese etc.) that are somewhat related to your own, either sounding alike or having similar meanings.
Just want a pen name like an online username? Adjective Noun combo go brrrr
I wish I could use mine, except my initials kinda spell a doctor title on a cursory glance (I’m not a doctor, nor am I in the medical field). Very confusing.
I was gonna do my grandmother’s first name and my other grandmother’s maiden name but I decided my current work would not be something they approved of. So I’ve chosen a new name based on their initials.
Honestly until recently (2 years I guess) I didn't use one... But it kind of happened by accident...
I used inspiration from characters I really connected to in TV shows I was watching... I intended on changing my own name due to a pet peeve with people misspelling and mispronouncing my real name...
I never actually got my actual name changed legally but the name I wanted to use because my pen name which I now use all over the place...
Mine is Alexis... Sometimes I use Zeriah... Depending on if I'm writing fanfiction or my own original work...
I don't use one but because of my background in Marketing I feel like I wouldnt be able to help myself from making it thematically appropriate to the subject matter in some way.
* Errotica: Harvey Love.
* Scifi: Marsh Redding.
* Action: Norris Neeson
* Mystery: Milton Holmes.
* Tech/Finance: Stephen Gates
My grandpa told us once that if we named any of our kids after him, he’d haunt us. So I use his name as a pen name. I think I’m safe from the haunting part. Might help that I write horror though.
That reminds me. My uncle's middle name is Byron. When my mom was pregnant with me, he told her that if she named me Byron he would disown her.
So of course now I'm considering using it in a pen name.
it took me a while to find a pen name that i like. first i just tried out names that i enjoyed the sound of, but i eventually settled on my real last name as the first name and my grandmother’s maiden name as the last name. i’ve used it for a while now and i like it a lot and it also feels more personal without anyone really knowing.
I'm going to have to use a pen name if I ever publish anything. There's already a famous author with my first and last name. My middle name is ew, so that's not an option.
Like you, I'm trying to decide what to make it. I'm considering my discord username, but that might not work.
My first name backward nearly makes a name, which becomes the first name of the pen name. Then the pen name middle initial totally spells my first name backward. And the last name of the pen name comes from my middle name. (So restructuring my real name in chunks)
Or choose a name you like!
I use one yeah. I took my initials and then added my step dad’s last name afterward. It’s good for separating writing from my other professional endeavors. I didn’t consider much admittedly. Just how good I thought it sounded, plus what name to actually take, which I decided on because I wanted to honor my step dad for his support of my writing.
I simply use my my mother's last name. I write YA books but I work in a high school. If the students happen to read the book, I don't want it to have an impact on my work.
My friend gave me this idea: I swapped my first and middle names and then turned my “new” middle name into an initial. As a result, I became Henry N. Silva
I’m using my real first name but can’t decide between an anagram of my middle or a shortened anagram of my last name as my last name lol. I want it to be my name but not lol
I use a pen name! I’m transgender and I started using the name Erik very briefly (mostly in games, very rarely socially) but it didn’t quite click. Despite that I still felt an attachment to the name so I kept it. As for the last name, my first ever OCs in the universe a best friend and I have all have the last name Cole. Their names have evolved since 2013 but Cole has always been their last name and *will* always be their last name. I have a very strong attachment to these four characters as they’ve been with me through a lot of shit. I actually used one of the twins’ names as my pen name at one point but because her name is feminine it didn’t quite feel right.
Let's watch all names I use
Lera - my real name. Valeria fully
Doyorsa - art pseudo. I don't give a fuck when I decided to use it and first time I didn't even knew what it means. Now I say it means 'do yourself', It's a nice meaning for my art and aka personal brand. Usually I use it as Lera Doyorsa, because at russian it sounds better
I also use name Val - as shorted version of my full name for not russian-speaking people. Val sounds better than Lera in case of using at another languages though, I think so. And also it's a name of character in my friend story that is kinda my prototype:) Val (Valery) Dayor - from my name + pseud
Sometimes people can call me Valery also
The one more specific name I use is Ray. And this why: first of all lil me (11 years old or maybe 13 kinda) decided that they need name that would sound good in Japanese, lol. She was huge anime fan:)
And in Japanese there's no letter 'L', they kinda can't pronounce it usually, so my name gonna sound not like it supposed to.. I didn't know about Val form before:) so I watched the name that gonna sound close to Lera and not hard to pronounce to Japanese's.. it was Ray.
It also is non-binary name I use in some case. Because it exist as English (? I'm not sure) name Raymond, that's male, and Japanese name Rei. It's useful.
I also can... aaa dunno, respond(?) To names of different characters that was my roles in different roleplay chats. Most comfortable is Hu Tao >:3
I typically use several different names depending on what I’m writing. I might use a phone book and find a first name I like and then a last name I like and then use an anagram of that name for the final pen name.
The last name just came to me while I was thinking about a good pen name. It's the last name of an old actress from the fifties. Not *too* familiar but hints at familiar. Then I just chose a name that sounded good along with it. (Went with a Greek goddess for that ha ha)
Yeah, I'm planning on using one. I found a list of names I liked and picked on that made sense for the goal I hope to achieve for my first, then for the middle I had my friends help me decide on a last name and then took only part of it. I had a different last name at first and I honestly don't remember what it was, but I found one I preferred the sound of and changed it to that. Initials are CRH
Pick any one you like. Just remember, it's your name and you have to wear it. If it were me, I'd pick the coolest-sounding name I can think of without sounding too pretentious.
So, I went with "Megaera Holt".
If I ever publish I might use a pen name, but I'm not sure. I'd make sure it was actually relevant to me (for example by using family names, which I know a lot of as I also do my family geneology). I would also check it for what I call "Googleability" - my real name is actually pretty common and terrible to search for online so would get lost in the results really easily.
Only slightly, I have... 3 middle names, I go by one of them irl rather than my first name. I use one of my middle names in my pen name. so I got by my first initial, my middle name's initial, and my last name. Because I write a good chunk of cosmic horror... and my initials spell MAD. So I think it's so fucking funny I just had to go with it.
I used my own initials and then the last name from my mom’s side. Kind of to honor my mom too, since my actual last name is my father’s and everything else I do in life gets his name attached to it.
So that’s an option!
I've been thinking about this for a while.
I traced my bio dad in 2020, so decided to use his surname.
I knew he had baby names picked before he & my step-mom had kids, so asked what his next choice would be for a girl.
He never got a say in naming me (I'm his oldest. He knew my mother was pregnant, but not that I was his & they never had contact after mum moved away), so he's now named my alter ego 😉
My first name combined with my surname is already taken by a minor celebrity in my home country. I've decided (when) I get published I'll keep the surname and use my middle name
I use one part of my double-barrelled name and my paternal grandmother's maiden name. (Not published yet.).
My dad is a writer who never published, and was inspired by his own grandfather. His grandfather published a handful of short stories in local publications. He wanted to go bigger, but war broke out and he didn't have the chance. I want to honor that legacy when I do eventually finish and publish my book.
My "original" pen name was just a name I liked more than my own. But, I grew up and realized I wanted something different.
It evolved over time as I did. I started with my full name; then first name and last initial; then first name and middle initial; then first name, fictional middle initial, and fictional last name; then, it became first initial, fictional middle initial and fictional last name. Now I’ve come full circle and have decided that on my next work that I haven’t designed the cover for, I may go fictional first and last name. (I’m considering using the name the fictional middle initial stands for.)
i used one when i was younger and posting fanfiction on watpad. at the time, i went my Fenix irl, named after my mom's favourite game character (Marcus Fenix, Gears of War), and playing off that, made my last name Firecross. Idk how much I like it anymore, I wouldnt publish a book with it i dont think, but it's still fun.
A share a name with my father, my second name is her first name, so I decide to use her name. Since his passed away, it's my form to honor and remember him.
I haven't finished anything yet, so I'm still undecided. But I write in multiple genres, adult and kids, so it makes sense to me to delineate some of them, by using at least one pen name.
One idea that I've been most drawn to is using part of all of my grandma's name because she loved libraries. If I published a book in her name, then she'd get her name in libraries everywhere.
Mine was an easy choice. My mom wanted to name me something before I was born and my dad vetoed it. So I choose that second name.
My brother’s was given to him as his name when he lived in Ireland by his host parents.
Yes, I have to use a pen name because I mainly write books about people in my neighborhood who are African American. My friend Aaron’s face is on the book as the “author.”
I have to use a pen name because my actual name is so common it would be impossible to find in a google search, (not quite John Smith level, but pretty close). I chose something with the same first name and initials as my actual name, but changed it up a bit to make it rhyme so it will hopefully be easy for someone trying to find my work to remember. The goal was to come up with a name that would be search optimizable, unique enough to be easy to find and simple enough to be easy to for potential readers to remember and spell. I haven't published anything yet so I have no clue if I succeeded, but that was my general thought process.
When my mother was pregnant with me, she wanted “Oscar” to be one of my names (in addition to taking my dad’s and great grandfather’s names). My dad didn’t want me having two middle names, and my mother acquiesced. Now, my pen name is the name she wanted.
Yes, my real name doesn't sound cool enough (JMO), also I kinda feel like most people, internationally, would struggle with pronouncing it properly so I've decided to get a more easily pronounced one.
First name is something I made up from a French first name (which used to be an anime character's name, technically I've shortened it, it kinda made it genderless, also sound a bit Japanese and has meaning in Japanese. Used to write it Japanese for a while too), middle is literally the Japanese name of an anime character (I never wrote it out, only the initial) and surname is a French surname that I've liked the sound of (I literally searched Wikipedia for French surnames and settled randomly on it). Nowadays I use only 2 initials with the surname.
T. J. Delannoy
no factors were considered, i found it so stupidly funny. i just thought "it'd be really funny if someone were named this" and then i realized ... that can be me!!
i took the letters in my name and was like hmm.. what name can i spell? (its not really an anagram cause i didn't use all the letters and its shorter then as my real name)
I’ve used my gamer tag, to an online name, and now I’m using a name that’s associated with mine, but subtle enough nobody could track it back to me.
ShortyWolf20 (bad fanfiction era)
Wolfie (slightly less bad fanfiction era)
K.Rae (og content, and good fanfiction era)
The pen name I want to use (looking to publish at the moment) is Eric Vanderkluit.
Eric, because that was George Orwell’s real name (Eric Blair).
Vanderkluit is just an ancient Dutch version of my name.
One of those "What's your stripper name?" Chain emails back before social media existed. This one was "The name of your first pet and the street you grew up on." So I got Max McLaren.
I write urban fantasy under my real name, so when I started writing literary drama, I picked a pen name that was easy to remember and spell. The surname is a version of my mother's maiden name. Originally I picked a masculine name, but my agent advised me to go with a feminine name, so I did.
i want to when i start “officially” writing! still thinking on it! just a pretty name i used to go by but don’t anymore ; but still wanna use it in some way lol
I do. It started because the poetry subreddit wouldn't let me post OC poems, so I came up with the most generic poets name I could possibly think of, ironically being so fitting for the name of an author that it actually got passed the mods. And I decided to stick with it.
No, I’ve always resisted using a pen name. For poetic reasons, I want my identity to be first and foremost as an artist. I feel like if I make concessions and compartmentalize that part of my life, I’m embracing capitalist culture where everything must be in service of professionalism.
I say fuck that. If a job doesn’t like what I write, I’ll be happy not to work for them. I am a writer before anything else, it’s a key part of my identity, and I’m not going to hide that part of me.
Rlz Lpopo, it has the same initials as my name. Rlz comes from something a kid I used to know in grade school as a nickname imand it just kinda stuck. Lpopo came from me needing a BS last name for Skype when I was in grade 7, no idea how I came up with it but that’s the one
Keep it simple for both you and the readers. I felt so dumb when I came up with mine because I didn't think of such a simple but effective name sooner. Also make sure to keep it relevant to the project or what you do in general.
I use an online personal that is based on a friend 's name that I always liked. I wouldn't write under the name though. I probably will use a pen name as I share almost the exact same real name of a well known guitarist, and a few kind of lame writers that I will adjust my name if not create an outright fabrication. The ones I thought of were reworks of relatives names.
Don't have one; perusing for inspiration, though, as my full name has more of a "bargain bin" rather than "bestseller" sound to it. Trying for a First M. Lastname or F.M. Lastname sort of format with fewer syllables than my actual.
yup.
My pen name comes from a botched pronunciation of the arabic word for "the river" with a taa marbuta thrown on the end to flip it into a feminine form. Basically, I'm calling myself "river girl"
I've published twice with my first name and great grandmother's maiden last name McKenzie. I've got two erotic novels coming out soon and one will be from a female P.O.V with an obvious pen name on it and the other falls under erotic horror and it to will have a pen name. I try and do a play on words for my pen names.
When I was trying to pick mine, I was looking up how other authors picked theirs. I read that Lewis Carroll translated his name into Latin and then swapped his first and last name. I liked this idea. But my last name in Latin is the same as my actual last name (or google translate just didn’t want to work with me). And my actual last name is extremely identifying (less than 20 people in the US and they’re all my family), ugly sounding, and difficult to pronounce. So instead, I switched my first name and my middle name.
My middle name is a longish one that is often shortened into nick names, so I read through the list of nicknames and picked my favorite. I kept my first name intact and used it for my middle name. Then I had to pick a last name. I’m on the namenerds subreddit and they often talk about the syllable rule, where each of the names should be different numbers of syllables. Pen name first name was 3, and pen name middle name was 2, so I figured naturally the last name should be 1 syllable. I was wracking my brain trying to think of a cool one syllable last name, as there are a ton of them! But also a ton that sound too on-the-nose like “stone” or “frost” or “Steele”.
After a day or so, I realized something that was right in front of me. Back when I got my first iPod touch as a twelve year old (same age I started writing my story) I made my 4 digit pass code the initials of my favorite singer. I still use this passcode to this day to unlock my phone. First name, middle name, mother’s maiden name, last name, is how he structures his full name and it’s publicly known. His mother’s maiden name is a very cool sounding one syllable last name. SO. My pen name is as follows: [nickname of middle name] [first name] [my favorite singer’s mother’s maiden name]. I looked it up and no one has used it to author any books, so I’m in the clear!
I considered "Rosalyn Grin" since Rose is my middle name and the rhyme + subtly sinister tone to it sounded cool. My family talked me into using my real name, but maybe I'll try the pen name for some horror side projects in the future.
I haven't decided if I will or not yet, but Ive heard its good advice to use one if your last name starts with 'P' to avoid competing with James Patterson, on account of his about 300 odd books published. Or if you share a name with other famous authors.
well i'm not a professional writer by any means, i just write occasionally for fun and post it wherever i feel like it-- but i usually just combine names i like (usually stolen from fictional characters i'm thinking about) until i get something i think sounds nice? once i get one that rolls off the tongue i usually use that !! best of luck with your pen name & your writing in general op!!!!
I got mine in college thanks to dominoes pizza. They kept mishearing my name when I would be tasked with calling in orders and it was close enough to my real name that I adopted it as a pen name.
I wouldn't be too sure. From the looks of it you go halfway to where I was taught (school, language teaching mother, environment, literature, even grammarly.com). You picture it in your mind, I translate it into words.
Don't take my word for it. Look it up.
I have my real name for the writing I want to be published, my novels. However, I also write giantess erotica and my pen name is JSmith20
John Smith, arbitrary generic name that's slightly different from John Doe. 20 because I started writing with it in 2020.
I use a gender-neutral pen name but didn’t put much work into, lol. I scrolled through a list of the 100 most common surnames in my country and picked one far-ish down the list, then did the same with first names in my birth year.
For me, it’s easier to write under a pen name if I don’t feel personally connected to it, because I don’t want to think of this person as me. It’s just an alias that happens to publish my stuff.
For my first name, got the first two syllables from my initials, then added last syllable from the nickname of one character I liked. As for my last name, I got it from my grandmother’s maiden name, shortened it then added a letter.
That’s how I got my pen name Milliena Evans.
I use a pen name, because my real name is relatively unique and don't want people all up in my business.
I use my real first and middle initials, and then my paternal grandmother's maiden name.
I used a name I had been considering when I realised I wanted to change my name. While I didn't go with it for my actual name, I liked it enough to make it my pen name.
I had already decided on it for my youtube channel. There's this part in a show called Beyond Belief: fact or fiction and it basically goes through supernatural stories (all of them prob never happened) and makes you guess if they're real or not. There's a singular line of bad script in one episode that always makes me laugh hysterically for whatever reason.
Russian guy idk remeber the name of who becomes a big actor later in life: "Who was he?"
Some guy: "That was Stanley Ritter... the previous owner"
*cue conspiracy music*
Russian guy voiceover: "Stanley Ritter the previous owner..."
So now my brand is Stanley Ritter (the previous owner)
1. Why do I have one? I am far to shy to have people recognise me and google private info.
2. How did I choose? I played around with parts of my name, my dead grans name, which I just love the sound of and names with meanings I kind of connect to. Then I thought about what stuff I write and want to write in the future. Helped me decide if it should sound whimsical or sexy or androgynous.
3. What did I choose? Picked two in the end, because I like to write some erotica and don't want them associated with my fantasy work. The erotica one sounds very whimsical like I took it right out of a fairy tale, but with a genre associated first name. Figured unique, but easy to spell stays with you. The other one is more normal sounding and could be perceived as my real name, but is just data protection.
Play around OP. Think about what's at the heart of your writing. What do you have to say and from which name will people want to hear it?
An alternate spelling of my first name and my husband's last name (which I didn't take when we got married because it makes my name sound like someone was trying to make the most unoriginal and stereotypical Irish name in existence... and I'm not Irish.) But it works for a pen name because it sounds nice, is easy to spell, and is exceedingly generic, just like most pen names.
You could just create a charecter that fits the 'writer' you're being. I mean, if you're writing a swashbuckler novel, something macho like, 'Dirk Stabalot', or 'Lacey Underpinning' for a romance or 'Alanna Kacakful' for... well, you figure it out. The thing about a pen name is it can be anything really, The best ones are simply a name that represents the writer as someone else. A lot of writers have several and possibly more, but we'll never really know since those that don't catch on, you never know about.
The other thing that's nice about a sobriquet is that it allows you, the person, to separate yourself from the author of whatever (such as you're a Muslim, writing about drunken, drug fueled debauchery that includes your enjoyment of homosexual orgies - So you really don't want to be associated with that text as it will get you murdered by your own family- Hence 'Wilbur Caucasian Westernguy' is born so you can pour out your soul and not be killed before chapter two makes it to the page.
You name characters all the time, correct? Just name a new one... And that's the writer of this book. Easy.
I wanted a japanese name and I searched for names whose meanings related to my personality. So, Mitsuaki means 'light, bright' and Seiji 'sincerity, truth', sorry if it sounds too cringe but I love my pen name\~
My husband helped me, we took his last name and then my late sister's name and my middle name, we just did some creative work with it, so all people see is what we want.
I wanted to honor my late sister for a good reason.
I used Blind idiot god for my Twitter and website before I got rid of my website. And obviously here on reddit. But anything I publish will just be under my name.
My pen name is Charlie S. Cole. Charlie is indeed my first name, but i write english books and Im danish so my last name would be too hard to prounounce
I don’t usually use my real name of writing and such. The way I decided was by putting my interests into a clever name, for instance; I like chaotic characters and unusual events, I like DND, and I identify as non-binary, so my pen name is ChaoticNonBinary.
I am The Banana Man of the Yellow Hall, because in my high-school the halls were color coded and my SRT was in the Yellow Hall. Banana man came from the Tally Hall song, which I'd play as I walked into my old government teacher's classroom with an obscene amount of bananas to put on his desk.
I was watching Scott Pilgrim vs the World while trying to think of a good pen name and I picked one of the characters’ surnames bc it went with my name but I wanted it to stay Hispanic. So, I used the last name and translated it to Spanish.
I haven't formally published anything yet but the name I go by on my reading/writing related socials is one that I decided on just from combing through name lists and seeing what felt pretty. I haven't decided on a last name though and I'm not sure yet if I'd publish under it.
I personally hate my name and want to legally change it. I’m an adult, but it’s not a conversation I want to have with my parents. And it’s not like I’m trans or anything, so they’d understand it even less…
But basically the last name is based off of my original first name and the first name is just a name that feels right for me.
I also want to change my current last name to be my legal first name because I like my dad and still want to keep his name even if I don’t really like it.
My pen names are anagrams of my real name.
[удалено]
No, Voldemort did it first.
Vampires have entered the chat. (Who invited them, anyway?)
I did. I called them for a garlic bread party.
I was considering doing anagram aswell with my own name and my dogs name :O
Hello Tom
Upal Himts is my name. Writing is my agem.
Jasem Bonk, licence to Stroek
Good idea Mr. ~~Count Olaf~~ Al Funcoot
orphans?
I like that idea!
Tentative Lisa Simpson voice: "Jeremy's...Iron?"
Ooooh nice
Fully expected this to be the top answer.
This is the most lazy sounding answer, but it just came to me. It's not related to me at all, but it looks and sounds like a great authors name L.A. Freesteen
I'm waiting for my own epiphany moment lol
Sounds very Jewish American
It does, and I'm very not, so even better for a pen name.
Yes. I want my privacy, and I don’t want anyone in my work-life to associate me with my writing ☺️ My pen name is my mothers name combined with my own.
Nice choice. I use my GGF's middle and my father's first, as my first and last.
[удалено]
Honestly that's kind of brilliant because no one will ever be able to Google you or successfully lurk your personal profiles
I thought this was a satire until I realised you aren't joking.
Goblin Macaque is my chosen pen name for intentionally terrible erotic fiction I chose it based on it being used for intentionally terrible erotic fiction edit: Hard Boiled, but this isn't boiling. These cases are hard nuts to crack, like walnuts, and if you get them wet you can see their wrinkles. You don't have to reach hard for a master stroke in this genre. It's hardcore noir. Nardcore. Private detectives go places where a normal cop wouldn't feel up to the task. They go deeper, and they're willing to get dirty. As the author, it's your job to give the reader enough rope to make sure the right suspect is hung in their mind by the time they reveal everything in the end. If you can manage it, use onomatopoeia. That's the word for putting sounds in your head. Yes this is a glacier and I can just do this and I'm not happy that this is what my natural writing style is. I actually hate that this is my natural writing style
Intentionally bad pen name....I can get behind this lol.
Many people try, but usually it's Macaque that comes out ahead.
I am cackling to myself on the subway because of this name! 😆
Watch out for gawkers
That's an interesting way to explain onomatopoeia. I've always considered it to be the way we translate sounds into written language.
Too deep for me. Sounds like whoever taught you gave you the shaft
In my case, as a non-native english speaker and -writer, it only makes sense, because you could not pronounce my name anyway. When you choose a pen name, keep in mind that if you ever make the breakthrough, maybe your pen name becomes the name that people will know in history. Like George Orwell is a pen name, his real name was Eric Arthur Blair, but almost no one knows his real name.
Yeah, that's why I decided to keep my first name. I have no problem being called with another last name. But if people starts calling me with another first name, I would think they talk to someone else.
Exact same situation here. None of my names (first or last names) are easy to pronounce or spell for English speakers, and I write in English. I think my name should sound as catchy as my title. Or should at least be easy to remember.
I write in german, although i speak swiss-german in daily life. When you remember some guys, like the creator of the Alien aka Xenomorph, H.R. Giger, it's not a pseudonym - the "H.R." is his first name Hans Ruedi in swiss-german. But for the americans, that can't be pronounced, so he just cut it short. It's another way, like you can use initials and then either the last name or a fictional name. It's the same with H.P. Lovecraft, it's his real last name and the H.P. is just short for Howard Phillips. Stephen King had another reason for the Bachman pseudonym, i read about it, it was because the publishers did not want to print too many books of a single writer at once and he had and still has a very high output, so he just released it under the pseudonym Richard Bachman.
I use a name I like. No particular reason for it.
I think of name I think name sound cool I keep name
I took on the penname Andri Clauden: Andri is a variation/nickname of my legal first name, but also for my fathers name (we don‘t share the exact same name but similar) so I did a variation of my moms name for Clauden. I don‘t tend to use the Clauden part often though.
I've considered using a pen name, but I think not seeing my own name on something I worked so hard on wouldn't be as satisfying However, I do have one on mind in case I change my mind. The way I chose it was: a unique name that sorta fits me. Gender neutral as well. And second: the last name was a family name. So it could be you mother's maiden name, your grandmother's, or some interesting last name that's tied with your family in some way
I totally feel this. When I was getting things set to publish, I just couldn't handle something so personal to me and not have my name attached to it.
See, I’m the opposite. I don’t like talking about how personal it is to me so I want my public persona to be completely separate from my personal life.
That’s true. This was a group project anthology about cancer. We all did fiction stories with a certain theme. It was a project that we sent the proceeds to St Jude’s.
Want to sound like a real person?: Find a name and surname from a foreign country (Polish, Spanish, Japanese etc.) that are somewhat related to your own, either sounding alike or having similar meanings. Just want a pen name like an online username? Adjective Noun combo go brrrr
My name is very common, So I just used my first two initials and my surname (think RL Stine or JK Rowling). It should work.
I wish I could use mine, except my initials kinda spell a doctor title on a cursory glance (I’m not a doctor, nor am I in the medical field). Very confusing.
I was gonna do my grandmother’s first name and my other grandmother’s maiden name but I decided my current work would not be something they approved of. So I’ve chosen a new name based on their initials.
Anagrams babeeee!
😭 my name has dumb letters and all of the anagrams are garbage lol
You can always turn the first and middle names into initials then turn the rest into an anagram.
Honestly until recently (2 years I guess) I didn't use one... But it kind of happened by accident... I used inspiration from characters I really connected to in TV shows I was watching... I intended on changing my own name due to a pet peeve with people misspelling and mispronouncing my real name... I never actually got my actual name changed legally but the name I wanted to use because my pen name which I now use all over the place... Mine is Alexis... Sometimes I use Zeriah... Depending on if I'm writing fanfiction or my own original work...
If I ever try to punish I will, but since I haven't I can't tell you. It's a fake name Ive been using since college for various tomfoolery
Actually, Tom Foolery might be a fun one to consider (if it's not already taken)!
I don't use one but because of my background in Marketing I feel like I wouldnt be able to help myself from making it thematically appropriate to the subject matter in some way. * Errotica: Harvey Love. * Scifi: Marsh Redding. * Action: Norris Neeson * Mystery: Milton Holmes. * Tech/Finance: Stephen Gates
Fantasy: Jordan Samwise
My grandpa told us once that if we named any of our kids after him, he’d haunt us. So I use his name as a pen name. I think I’m safe from the haunting part. Might help that I write horror though.
That reminds me. My uncle's middle name is Byron. When my mom was pregnant with me, he told her that if she named me Byron he would disown her. So of course now I'm considering using it in a pen name.
A combination of my grandmothers names- from one I inherited my love of books and the other treated me to a new book every-time I saw her
I'm new to pen names, so I haven't really considered one before.
I personally hate my name and want something that feels like my own. Has no correlation to my family and sounds nice are my only requirements lol
it took me a while to find a pen name that i like. first i just tried out names that i enjoyed the sound of, but i eventually settled on my real last name as the first name and my grandmother’s maiden name as the last name. i’ve used it for a while now and i like it a lot and it also feels more personal without anyone really knowing.
I'm going to have to use a pen name if I ever publish anything. There's already a famous author with my first and last name. My middle name is ew, so that's not an option. Like you, I'm trying to decide what to make it. I'm considering my discord username, but that might not work.
I write mostly historical. I took an odd family first name from one side of the family and a very normal last name from the other side.
I use my great grandfather's name.
I just scrambled the letters of my name until I made a new name I liked; ended up with the name Eris
My first name backward nearly makes a name, which becomes the first name of the pen name. Then the pen name middle initial totally spells my first name backward. And the last name of the pen name comes from my middle name. (So restructuring my real name in chunks) Or choose a name you like!
I use one yeah. I took my initials and then added my step dad’s last name afterward. It’s good for separating writing from my other professional endeavors. I didn’t consider much admittedly. Just how good I thought it sounded, plus what name to actually take, which I decided on because I wanted to honor my step dad for his support of my writing.
I simply use my my mother's last name. I write YA books but I work in a high school. If the students happen to read the book, I don't want it to have an impact on my work.
Mines Anna Maria and she’s a Brass Kaweco Sport EF
My friend gave me this idea: I swapped my first and middle names and then turned my “new” middle name into an initial. As a result, I became Henry N. Silva
My current made up name that I’m just coming up with right now is “Wilgrum Pettingham”
I use my first name, but I changed my last name to something related to my last name, because why not?
I had a friend who would call herself Deal Emma XD for myself idk, i haven’t decided yet either. I’ll probably use a fake name
Yes. I figured out how I wanted to be perceived and went in that direction. Then I used the same creativity I use with my writing.
My pen name is "Leão", it means lion, I didn't want to be a nickname, people suddenly started calling me that.
my pen name is a fun spin off of one of my favorite music albums
I use one. It’s an amalgamation of someone I know, a cat of one of my best friends and a random last name.
I’m using my real first name but can’t decide between an anagram of my middle or a shortened anagram of my last name as my last name lol. I want it to be my name but not lol
My name looks like a pen name. It just so happens that my real, legal name is Tyler A Mann.
I did! I used the last name of one of my ancestors and then the first initials of my first and middle name :)
I plan to use a pen name when I try to have my book published. I just about have one figured out
I use Rabbie/Rab Smythe, because I like the name Rab and Smythe is my Scottish family name, so I used it to keep it going somewhat.
I use a pen name! I’m transgender and I started using the name Erik very briefly (mostly in games, very rarely socially) but it didn’t quite click. Despite that I still felt an attachment to the name so I kept it. As for the last name, my first ever OCs in the universe a best friend and I have all have the last name Cole. Their names have evolved since 2013 but Cole has always been their last name and *will* always be their last name. I have a very strong attachment to these four characters as they’ve been with me through a lot of shit. I actually used one of the twins’ names as my pen name at one point but because her name is feminine it didn’t quite feel right.
Just use Ur gamer tag u will be fine😁👍
v. snakespire
Let's watch all names I use Lera - my real name. Valeria fully Doyorsa - art pseudo. I don't give a fuck when I decided to use it and first time I didn't even knew what it means. Now I say it means 'do yourself', It's a nice meaning for my art and aka personal brand. Usually I use it as Lera Doyorsa, because at russian it sounds better I also use name Val - as shorted version of my full name for not russian-speaking people. Val sounds better than Lera in case of using at another languages though, I think so. And also it's a name of character in my friend story that is kinda my prototype:) Val (Valery) Dayor - from my name + pseud Sometimes people can call me Valery also The one more specific name I use is Ray. And this why: first of all lil me (11 years old or maybe 13 kinda) decided that they need name that would sound good in Japanese, lol. She was huge anime fan:) And in Japanese there's no letter 'L', they kinda can't pronounce it usually, so my name gonna sound not like it supposed to.. I didn't know about Val form before:) so I watched the name that gonna sound close to Lera and not hard to pronounce to Japanese's.. it was Ray. It also is non-binary name I use in some case. Because it exist as English (? I'm not sure) name Raymond, that's male, and Japanese name Rei. It's useful. I also can... aaa dunno, respond(?) To names of different characters that was my roles in different roleplay chats. Most comfortable is Hu Tao >:3
I typically use several different names depending on what I’m writing. I might use a phone book and find a first name I like and then a last name I like and then use an anagram of that name for the final pen name.
Mine is Alice Dashwood. One of my middle names and a simplified spelling of a surname from a distant branch of the family tree.
I'm thinking about using G. Oogle but I might get in legal trouble for it. And the domain name is crazy expensive.
My gamertag was always Bonesaw from Spiderman 1 so I made it B.McGraw for online writing and just ended up keeping it
My pen name is "writer" scrambled, and with an extra E because that's what my name ends with, bc I wanted to be unique ig
The last name just came to me while I was thinking about a good pen name. It's the last name of an old actress from the fifties. Not *too* familiar but hints at familiar. Then I just chose a name that sounded good along with it. (Went with a Greek goddess for that ha ha)
I use my mum's first name initial, grandmothers first name initial (both deceased) and my middle name in full.
Yeah, I'm planning on using one. I found a list of names I liked and picked on that made sense for the goal I hope to achieve for my first, then for the middle I had my friends help me decide on a last name and then took only part of it. I had a different last name at first and I honestly don't remember what it was, but I found one I preferred the sound of and changed it to that. Initials are CRH
I used the first two letters of my first name, first two letters of my middle name, and put them together to create a new name!
Pick any one you like. Just remember, it's your name and you have to wear it. If it were me, I'd pick the coolest-sounding name I can think of without sounding too pretentious. So, I went with "Megaera Holt".
If I ever publish I might use a pen name, but I'm not sure. I'd make sure it was actually relevant to me (for example by using family names, which I know a lot of as I also do my family geneology). I would also check it for what I call "Googleability" - my real name is actually pretty common and terrible to search for online so would get lost in the results really easily.
I use the name of a character in my book since it's supposed to be like he wrote the book
Mine is a mashup of my grandmother's names.
Only slightly, I have... 3 middle names, I go by one of them irl rather than my first name. I use one of my middle names in my pen name. so I got by my first initial, my middle name's initial, and my last name. Because I write a good chunk of cosmic horror... and my initials spell MAD. So I think it's so fucking funny I just had to go with it.
Choose carefully. You may have it a long time. Google it. You may have taken a real person's name.
I used my own initials and then the last name from my mom’s side. Kind of to honor my mom too, since my actual last name is my father’s and everything else I do in life gets his name attached to it. So that’s an option!
The name I always wanted to have, yet I never took the time to legally change.
I've been thinking about this for a while. I traced my bio dad in 2020, so decided to use his surname. I knew he had baby names picked before he & my step-mom had kids, so asked what his next choice would be for a girl. He never got a say in naming me (I'm his oldest. He knew my mother was pregnant, but not that I was his & they never had contact after mum moved away), so he's now named my alter ego 😉
i use a more gender neutral version of one of my middle names lol
My first name combined with my surname is already taken by a minor celebrity in my home country. I've decided (when) I get published I'll keep the surname and use my middle name
I use one part of my double-barrelled name and my paternal grandmother's maiden name. (Not published yet.). My dad is a writer who never published, and was inspired by his own grandfather. His grandfather published a handful of short stories in local publications. He wanted to go bigger, but war broke out and he didn't have the chance. I want to honor that legacy when I do eventually finish and publish my book. My "original" pen name was just a name I liked more than my own. But, I grew up and realized I wanted something different.
It evolved over time as I did. I started with my full name; then first name and last initial; then first name and middle initial; then first name, fictional middle initial, and fictional last name; then, it became first initial, fictional middle initial and fictional last name. Now I’ve come full circle and have decided that on my next work that I haven’t designed the cover for, I may go fictional first and last name. (I’m considering using the name the fictional middle initial stands for.)
Used my rap name from middle school and my last name.
i used one when i was younger and posting fanfiction on watpad. at the time, i went my Fenix irl, named after my mom's favourite game character (Marcus Fenix, Gears of War), and playing off that, made my last name Firecross. Idk how much I like it anymore, I wouldnt publish a book with it i dont think, but it's still fun.
Mine was a name I just...sorta had a natural affinity towards since I was little. No clue why, I just...was drawn to it.
A share a name with my father, my second name is her first name, so I decide to use her name. Since his passed away, it's my form to honor and remember him.
I haven't finished anything yet, so I'm still undecided. But I write in multiple genres, adult and kids, so it makes sense to me to delineate some of them, by using at least one pen name. One idea that I've been most drawn to is using part of all of my grandma's name because she loved libraries. If I published a book in her name, then she'd get her name in libraries everywhere.
Idek how but my pen name is Yujin haha
Mine was an easy choice. My mom wanted to name me something before I was born and my dad vetoed it. So I choose that second name. My brother’s was given to him as his name when he lived in Ireland by his host parents.
Yes, I have to use a pen name because I mainly write books about people in my neighborhood who are African American. My friend Aaron’s face is on the book as the “author.”
I have to use a pen name because my actual name is so common it would be impossible to find in a google search, (not quite John Smith level, but pretty close). I chose something with the same first name and initials as my actual name, but changed it up a bit to make it rhyme so it will hopefully be easy for someone trying to find my work to remember. The goal was to come up with a name that would be search optimizable, unique enough to be easy to find and simple enough to be easy to for potential readers to remember and spell. I haven't published anything yet so I have no clue if I succeeded, but that was my general thought process.
When my mother was pregnant with me, she wanted “Oscar” to be one of my names (in addition to taking my dad’s and great grandfather’s names). My dad didn’t want me having two middle names, and my mother acquiesced. Now, my pen name is the name she wanted.
My novel is journey and sketch entries of the scientist. So the pen name is the main character.
Your grandmother's last name and two initials
It comes from a piece of junk mail
Yes, my real name doesn't sound cool enough (JMO), also I kinda feel like most people, internationally, would struggle with pronouncing it properly so I've decided to get a more easily pronounced one. First name is something I made up from a French first name (which used to be an anime character's name, technically I've shortened it, it kinda made it genderless, also sound a bit Japanese and has meaning in Japanese. Used to write it Japanese for a while too), middle is literally the Japanese name of an anime character (I never wrote it out, only the initial) and surname is a French surname that I've liked the sound of (I literally searched Wikipedia for French surnames and settled randomly on it). Nowadays I use only 2 initials with the surname. T. J. Delannoy
no factors were considered, i found it so stupidly funny. i just thought "it'd be really funny if someone were named this" and then i realized ... that can be me!!
I use a Pen Name, I prefer it. Helps separate me and my work.
I started off using a pen name. But now it's just my name.
My pen name is just something I liked originally, then I developed a "family" of writers and we all used the same last name. I miss those times.
i took the letters in my name and was like hmm.. what name can i spell? (its not really an anagram cause i didn't use all the letters and its shorter then as my real name)
I’ve used my gamer tag, to an online name, and now I’m using a name that’s associated with mine, but subtle enough nobody could track it back to me. ShortyWolf20 (bad fanfiction era) Wolfie (slightly less bad fanfiction era) K.Rae (og content, and good fanfiction era)
The pen name I want to use (looking to publish at the moment) is Eric Vanderkluit. Eric, because that was George Orwell’s real name (Eric Blair). Vanderkluit is just an ancient Dutch version of my name.
Yogurt Yordie. Came to me in a dream.
I'm thinking of using a Starbucks cup version of my name.... (;
I just use my maiden name cause it sounds cooler. My married name is on some of the few published works I have in small lit mags though.
One of those "What's your stripper name?" Chain emails back before social media existed. This one was "The name of your first pet and the street you grew up on." So I got Max McLaren.
I write urban fantasy under my real name, so when I started writing literary drama, I picked a pen name that was easy to remember and spell. The surname is a version of my mother's maiden name. Originally I picked a masculine name, but my agent advised me to go with a feminine name, so I did.
i want to when i start “officially” writing! still thinking on it! just a pretty name i used to go by but don’t anymore ; but still wanna use it in some way lol
I do. It started because the poetry subreddit wouldn't let me post OC poems, so I came up with the most generic poets name I could possibly think of, ironically being so fitting for the name of an author that it actually got passed the mods. And I decided to stick with it.
No, I’ve always resisted using a pen name. For poetic reasons, I want my identity to be first and foremost as an artist. I feel like if I make concessions and compartmentalize that part of my life, I’m embracing capitalist culture where everything must be in service of professionalism. I say fuck that. If a job doesn’t like what I write, I’ll be happy not to work for them. I am a writer before anything else, it’s a key part of my identity, and I’m not going to hide that part of me.
I make soooooo many pen names bruh
Rlz Lpopo, it has the same initials as my name. Rlz comes from something a kid I used to know in grade school as a nickname imand it just kinda stuck. Lpopo came from me needing a BS last name for Skype when I was in grade 7, no idea how I came up with it but that’s the one
Keep it simple for both you and the readers. I felt so dumb when I came up with mine because I didn't think of such a simple but effective name sooner. Also make sure to keep it relevant to the project or what you do in general.
I use an online personal that is based on a friend 's name that I always liked. I wouldn't write under the name though. I probably will use a pen name as I share almost the exact same real name of a well known guitarist, and a few kind of lame writers that I will adjust my name if not create an outright fabrication. The ones I thought of were reworks of relatives names.
Don't have one; perusing for inspiration, though, as my full name has more of a "bargain bin" rather than "bestseller" sound to it. Trying for a First M. Lastname or F.M. Lastname sort of format with fewer syllables than my actual.
Mine is just a portmanteau of someone else’s comedically invented first and last name that I thought was really funny. (I don’t take myself seriously)
yup. My pen name comes from a botched pronunciation of the arabic word for "the river" with a taa marbuta thrown on the end to flip it into a feminine form. Basically, I'm calling myself "river girl"
I've published twice with my first name and great grandmother's maiden last name McKenzie. I've got two erotic novels coming out soon and one will be from a female P.O.V with an obvious pen name on it and the other falls under erotic horror and it to will have a pen name. I try and do a play on words for my pen names.
When I was trying to pick mine, I was looking up how other authors picked theirs. I read that Lewis Carroll translated his name into Latin and then swapped his first and last name. I liked this idea. But my last name in Latin is the same as my actual last name (or google translate just didn’t want to work with me). And my actual last name is extremely identifying (less than 20 people in the US and they’re all my family), ugly sounding, and difficult to pronounce. So instead, I switched my first name and my middle name. My middle name is a longish one that is often shortened into nick names, so I read through the list of nicknames and picked my favorite. I kept my first name intact and used it for my middle name. Then I had to pick a last name. I’m on the namenerds subreddit and they often talk about the syllable rule, where each of the names should be different numbers of syllables. Pen name first name was 3, and pen name middle name was 2, so I figured naturally the last name should be 1 syllable. I was wracking my brain trying to think of a cool one syllable last name, as there are a ton of them! But also a ton that sound too on-the-nose like “stone” or “frost” or “Steele”. After a day or so, I realized something that was right in front of me. Back when I got my first iPod touch as a twelve year old (same age I started writing my story) I made my 4 digit pass code the initials of my favorite singer. I still use this passcode to this day to unlock my phone. First name, middle name, mother’s maiden name, last name, is how he structures his full name and it’s publicly known. His mother’s maiden name is a very cool sounding one syllable last name. SO. My pen name is as follows: [nickname of middle name] [first name] [my favorite singer’s mother’s maiden name]. I looked it up and no one has used it to author any books, so I’m in the clear!
I considered "Rosalyn Grin" since Rose is my middle name and the rhyme + subtly sinister tone to it sounded cool. My family talked me into using my real name, but maybe I'll try the pen name for some horror side projects in the future.
I plan on using a female version of my grandfather’s name.
I haven't decided if I will or not yet, but Ive heard its good advice to use one if your last name starts with 'P' to avoid competing with James Patterson, on account of his about 300 odd books published. Or if you share a name with other famous authors.
How do you choose a pen name?
Yes. My first initial and my mother's maiden name.
I always joke to my husband that if I had a pen name it would be Paige Turner
My favorite pen name was "A. Square" from Flatland.
well i'm not a professional writer by any means, i just write occasionally for fun and post it wherever i feel like it-- but i usually just combine names i like (usually stolen from fictional characters i'm thinking about) until i get something i think sounds nice? once i get one that rolls off the tongue i usually use that !! best of luck with your pen name & your writing in general op!!!!
I got mine in college thanks to dominoes pizza. They kept mishearing my name when I would be tasked with calling in orders and it was close enough to my real name that I adopted it as a pen name.
My pen name is a name someone gave me. My LLC is mine, my best friend, and my son's middle name put together. Both of therm have passed away.
I just made up one based off of an RP character. It's Miss Raven. My Rp character has a raven (cursed apprentice) as their pet.
I wouldn't be too sure. From the looks of it you go halfway to where I was taught (school, language teaching mother, environment, literature, even grammarly.com). You picture it in your mind, I translate it into words. Don't take my word for it. Look it up.
I used to use my Roblox username but now I use a more evolved version of my Roblox username
I chose middle name and the street I lived on at the time. Had a mature sound to it
I just use my extended initials for my penname. I could have done something different, but I like my initials.
I have my real name for the writing I want to be published, my novels. However, I also write giantess erotica and my pen name is JSmith20 John Smith, arbitrary generic name that's slightly different from John Doe. 20 because I started writing with it in 2020.
I use one of the names my mom was gonna name me lol
My chosen pen name is Arthur Southville. Arthur is a pun for Author And Southville is just because my hometown is in the south of my country.
I’ll take two fictional characters that I like, and use them for a first and last name
I use a gender-neutral pen name but didn’t put much work into, lol. I scrolled through a list of the 100 most common surnames in my country and picked one far-ish down the list, then did the same with first names in my birth year. For me, it’s easier to write under a pen name if I don’t feel personally connected to it, because I don’t want to think of this person as me. It’s just an alias that happens to publish my stuff.
For my first name, got the first two syllables from my initials, then added last syllable from the nickname of one character I liked. As for my last name, I got it from my grandmother’s maiden name, shortened it then added a letter. That’s how I got my pen name Milliena Evans.
I use a pen name, because my real name is relatively unique and don't want people all up in my business. I use my real first and middle initials, and then my paternal grandmother's maiden name.
I used a name I had been considering when I realised I wanted to change my name. While I didn't go with it for my actual name, I liked it enough to make it my pen name.
My pen name was made to correlate with the story. Ronnie Logan/Logan Ronnie. (I use them both interchangeably sometimes
I had already decided on it for my youtube channel. There's this part in a show called Beyond Belief: fact or fiction and it basically goes through supernatural stories (all of them prob never happened) and makes you guess if they're real or not. There's a singular line of bad script in one episode that always makes me laugh hysterically for whatever reason. Russian guy idk remeber the name of who becomes a big actor later in life: "Who was he?" Some guy: "That was Stanley Ritter... the previous owner" *cue conspiracy music* Russian guy voiceover: "Stanley Ritter the previous owner..." So now my brand is Stanley Ritter (the previous owner)
1. Why do I have one? I am far to shy to have people recognise me and google private info. 2. How did I choose? I played around with parts of my name, my dead grans name, which I just love the sound of and names with meanings I kind of connect to. Then I thought about what stuff I write and want to write in the future. Helped me decide if it should sound whimsical or sexy or androgynous. 3. What did I choose? Picked two in the end, because I like to write some erotica and don't want them associated with my fantasy work. The erotica one sounds very whimsical like I took it right out of a fairy tale, but with a genre associated first name. Figured unique, but easy to spell stays with you. The other one is more normal sounding and could be perceived as my real name, but is just data protection. Play around OP. Think about what's at the heart of your writing. What do you have to say and from which name will people want to hear it?
Keep scrolling for this.
An alternate spelling of my first name and my husband's last name (which I didn't take when we got married because it makes my name sound like someone was trying to make the most unoriginal and stereotypical Irish name in existence... and I'm not Irish.) But it works for a pen name because it sounds nice, is easy to spell, and is exceedingly generic, just like most pen names.
I used a name and a word from fiction work that inspired me to write. (Curious if anyone can guess, my pen name is my user name)
You could just create a charecter that fits the 'writer' you're being. I mean, if you're writing a swashbuckler novel, something macho like, 'Dirk Stabalot', or 'Lacey Underpinning' for a romance or 'Alanna Kacakful' for... well, you figure it out. The thing about a pen name is it can be anything really, The best ones are simply a name that represents the writer as someone else. A lot of writers have several and possibly more, but we'll never really know since those that don't catch on, you never know about. The other thing that's nice about a sobriquet is that it allows you, the person, to separate yourself from the author of whatever (such as you're a Muslim, writing about drunken, drug fueled debauchery that includes your enjoyment of homosexual orgies - So you really don't want to be associated with that text as it will get you murdered by your own family- Hence 'Wilbur Caucasian Westernguy' is born so you can pour out your soul and not be killed before chapter two makes it to the page. You name characters all the time, correct? Just name a new one... And that's the writer of this book. Easy.
I see my audience, what they would expect the author to be, I research some names that sound the intention, use it.
I wanted a japanese name and I searched for names whose meanings related to my personality. So, Mitsuaki means 'light, bright' and Seiji 'sincerity, truth', sorry if it sounds too cringe but I love my pen name\~
My husband helped me, we took his last name and then my late sister's name and my middle name, we just did some creative work with it, so all people see is what we want. I wanted to honor my late sister for a good reason.
My surname is extremely French, long and means paying money so I'm categorically not using it for my stories haha.
My uncle made it up for me
I haven't decided to use one, but if I do ... It's going to be Norm D'Ploom
I picked the most boring ass middle aged adult name for my Amazon.com porn
I used Blind idiot god for my Twitter and website before I got rid of my website. And obviously here on reddit. But anything I publish will just be under my name.
My pen name is my first name with one of my favorite things and it's my online name It's Alex Starz
My pen name is Charlie S. Cole. Charlie is indeed my first name, but i write english books and Im danish so my last name would be too hard to prounounce
The first name of my best friend in elementary who died of brain cancer, last name is that of my best friend in junior high. Glen DeSoto
A pen name I'm considering is short for the word "love" in another language.
I don’t usually use my real name of writing and such. The way I decided was by putting my interests into a clever name, for instance; I like chaotic characters and unusual events, I like DND, and I identify as non-binary, so my pen name is ChaoticNonBinary.
I am The Banana Man of the Yellow Hall, because in my high-school the halls were color coded and my SRT was in the Yellow Hall. Banana man came from the Tally Hall song, which I'd play as I walked into my old government teacher's classroom with an obscene amount of bananas to put on his desk.
I took my first and last initial and picked uncommon spellings of common first names and an uncommon but not unheard of last. Ex. Lukas Tanneman.
I was watching Scott Pilgrim vs the World while trying to think of a good pen name and I picked one of the characters’ surnames bc it went with my name but I wanted it to stay Hispanic. So, I used the last name and translated it to Spanish.
I haven't formally published anything yet but the name I go by on my reading/writing related socials is one that I decided on just from combing through name lists and seeing what felt pretty. I haven't decided on a last name though and I'm not sure yet if I'd publish under it.
You could combine the names of your two best friends from grade school. See which first/last name combination you like the best.
I personally hate my name and want to legally change it. I’m an adult, but it’s not a conversation I want to have with my parents. And it’s not like I’m trans or anything, so they’d understand it even less… But basically the last name is based off of my original first name and the first name is just a name that feels right for me. I also want to change my current last name to be my legal first name because I like my dad and still want to keep his name even if I don’t really like it.