courtesy of Clearly Ambiguous
By Jennifer Blanchard
Many fiction writers now and in the past have written under a pen name: Sophie Kinsella, Mark Twain, Lewis Carroll.
A pen name can be a way to make yourself stand out from the crowd (especially if your real name is something common). It’s also a way to conceal your identity, which is important if you write across different genres or also write non-fiction.
But how do you come up with a pen name? How did these famous writers create their names?
Well…I don’t have an exact answer for that, per se. But I do have a bunch of ideas on how you can create a pen name for yourself:
- Use a nickname you’ve had forever
- Pick your favorite girl/boy name
- Use your middle name
- Use your sibling’s middle name
- Use a last name you wish was really yours
- Pick a name that is easy to write in cursive over and over again (making those book signings much easier, of course!)
- Randomly open the dictionary and pick a word off that page to use
- Use the name of your street as part of your name
- Use the name of your favorite childhood toy
- Use your mom’s maiden name
- Use your best friend’s first or last name
- Open the phonebook to a random page and pick a name
- Use your initials (ex: J.L. Blanchard)
- Use initials only for your first name (ex: H. Christine Lindblom)
- Use your favorite food (ex: Alexander Pickle)
- Pick something that rhymes
- Use your last name as a first name…and maybe also your first as a last (ex: Smith Jarrod)
- Ask your friends/family to think of something
- Buy a book of baby names and look through it ’til you find something good
Yes, these may all seem like goofy options (in a way, they are). But that’s the idea.
A pen name should be something that is extremely memorable. Otherwise you won’t stand out from the crowd (which is pretty important if you plan to make any money as a fiction writer).
Use these suggestions as a jumping off point for creating your pen name.
And remember, you can mix-and-match the suggestions, as well (for example, use your sibling’s middle name and part of your street name).
Do you have a pen name? How did you come up with it? Or if you don’t have one, do you now have some ideas for how to create one?
{ 12 comments… read them below or add one }
I’ve actually been trying to think up a pen name. Thanks for the suggestions.
Writers of creative non-fiction do this, too, of course.
I smiled as I read through this psot because I asked myself all these questions as I debuted a new blog. I wanted my pen name to be separate and apart from my other online personal and professional identities and my earlier blogging identity.
HD = 1) the initials of the first and last names of an historical figure about whom I’d written and done a lot of research; 2) the initials of Hilda Doolittle, American writer.
Silversmith = I liked the connotations of a past era, and it’s also connected to my identity on SecondLife –> old/new combined.
Thanks! Fun to read.
I have been contemplating using a pen name for awhile, but I had a question about how you get paid and put the money in the bank with a pen name? Or does it matter as long as you are clear with the company that publishes it?
Thanks! Wendy
@HD Silversmith What a great pen name! I like that you broke it down and showed where you got your name from.
My pen name is Elle Riley–Elle is my favorite girl’s name and Riley is part of my street name.
@Wendy I’m not 100 percent on the answer to your question (time for me to do some research!)…but my guess would be, it’s like using a DBA (doing business as) to open the bank account. You are “doing business as” your pen name, but your real name is Wendy. Many businesses use DBAs, as well.
I have such a common name it is almost humorous. I show up at any appointment and have to give my birth date to verify they pulled the correct Sharon Smith file. I have been contemplating using a pen name for my first book, but wasn’t sure if that would help with the name recognition I have been working on as of late through my “platform.”
@Sharon Smith I have a pretty common name, too (my first name). Anytime I go anywhere…the doctor, the grocery store, work, school, anywhere…there’s always someone else named Jennifer.
I’ve developed quite a following under my real name (due to this blog), so I had the same thought as you did–will using a pen name help me at all? I’ve decided, however, that I want to keep my fiction work and my non-fiction work separate, so a pen name works well for that.
I’m constantly surprised when I travel up and down (the UK) and see signposts for towns with oddly familiar names.
Latterly I saw Felton (Tom Felton – Draco Malfoy) Elton (Reg Dwight’s alter-ego) Lansbury (Angla Lansbury). There are scores of others – makes me wonder if actors and musicians pick their names from Road Atlases.
There’s an old joke that involves picking your film star name by using your first pet’s name followed by your street name. That would make me Harry St. Godric which I thought would help me to stand out all right, but would cause carpal tunnel syndrome at the book signing…
I can actually open up a bank account useing the Pen name as the business name and the writer as the account signer. My bank in az does not require any paper work to set this type of account up just a valid DL or state id or passport. The account will be opened under the writers social number. Any questions feel to to contact me via rthayer@tcfbank.com
Thank You
Ryan
The pet and street would leave me with Hamlet Rio Secco. Boy, would I be in trouble if I used that! LOL Haven’t found anything I really like. I used to want to go with Megan Pennworthy, but I decided it didn’t really fit with the fiction I’m getting myself into now. And that left me with… Hmm… Considering my first name Shannon, and my middle name Megan (I hate Meg, but like Megs, but can you imagine that on a book cover? :shudders:), and the fact that I seriously want to distance myself from a book I self-published once… I really need to figure something out.
The basis how I created my pen name was what I wanted to become of myself and what I wanted to share of myself. It was a long time process of self-exploration…read more at http://www.lifeilive.info/blog/creating-my-pen-name-how-and-why.html
This pen name, Hannah Wicklow, was born out of what my Heart finds lovely and beautiful! I’ve always thought that the name “Hannah” was beautiful and I love it’s meaning of “grace/gracious.” Wicklow is in reference to the most beautiful place I have ever seen (at least in pictures and hope to visit someday), which is the Wicklow Mountains in Ireland. So, my “formula” was favorite name for the first name (depending on what gender you prefer to write in) and favorite place for a last name (city, state, country, landmark, etc.). Another name could be “Rose Austin”, “Katherine Dublin”, “Noel London”, or “Audrey Paris”. Yeah, just totally random but so many choices! Look at a baby name book and then look at a globe and you’ll have so many ideas that it will be hard to even “narrow it down”!
Hmmm, Suzanne Capleton.
I like it.