Pen name

A pen name, also known as a pseudonym, is a name an author uses in the place of their real name, when they write and publish things. For example, the Bronte sisters (Anne, Emily and Charlotte) who were famous authors in the 19th century used them, because they feared that people would make fun of (say bad things about) a book written by a woman. Charles Dodgson, an English math professor took the name Lewis Carroll, when he wrote fantasy stories. Erle Stanley Gardner, a best-selling American author, wrote books under numerous pseudonyms, including A. A. Fair, Kyle Corning, Charles M. Green, Carleton Kendrake, Charles J. Kenny, Les Tillray and Robert Parr, as well as under his real name.
Famous examples of pen names
Cecil Adams (author of The Straight Dope column-real name unknown)
Guillaume Apollinaire (Guillaume Albert Vladimir Apollinaire de Kostrowitzky), 20th century French poet, writer, and art critic
Tudor Arghezi (Ion N. Theodorescu), 20th century Romanian poet and children's author
Richard Bachman (Stephen King) 20th century horror author
W. N. P. Barbellion (Bruce Frederick Cummings), 20th century diarist
'BB' (Denys Watkins-Pitchford), 20th century illustrator and children's book author
Beachcomber (D.B. Wyndham-Lewis and John Bingham Morton), used for the surrealist humorous column "By the Way" in the Daily Express
Acton Bell, Currer Bell, and Ellis Bell (Anne Bronte, Charlotte Bronte, Emily Bronte)
Nicolas Bourbaki (a group of mainly French 20th-century mathematicians)
Kir Bulychev (Kir Bulychiov) Igor Vsevolodovich Mozheyko (Igor' Vsevolodovich Mozheiko), 20th century Russian science fiction writer and historian
Anthony Burgess (John ['Jack'] Burgess Wilson), 20th century British writer
Cassandra (William Connor), 20th century left-wing journalist for The Daily Mirror
Sue Denim (Dav Pilkey), writer and illustrator of the popular "Captain Underpants" children's book series (Sue Denim is a parody of the word pseudonym); also used by science fiction writer Lewis Shiner
Carter Dickson (John Dickson Carr), 20th century author of detective stories
Isak Dinesen (Karen Blixen), 20th century Danish author of "Out of Africa"
H.D. (Hilda Doolittle), 20th century American imagist poet, novelist and memoirist
George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans), 19th century English novelist
Paul Eluard (Eugene Grindel) 20th century French Dada and Surrealist poet
C. S. Forester (Cecil Smith), 20th century writer of the Captain Horatio Hornblower novels, "The African Queen". and other novels
Anatole France (Jacques Anatole Francois Thibault), 20th century French author
Pat Frank (Harry Hart Frank), 20th century author of the apocalyptic novel Alas, Babylon
Nicci French (Nicci Gerard and Sean French)
Uriah Fuller (Martin Gardner) wrote Confessions of a Psychic.
Anthony Gilbert (Lucy Beatrice Malleson), British author of the Arthur Crook crime fiction novels
George Groth was the name under which Martin Gardner he wrote a negative review of his book, The Whys of a Philosophical Scrivener.
K. Hardesh (Clement Greenberg), 20th century American art critic
O. Henry (William Sidney Porter), American author of short stories and novels
Herge (Georges Remi), 20th century Belgian comics writer and artist, famous worldwide for creating the Tintin series of books
Iceberg Slim Robert Beck, an African American writer.
Jinyong or Kam-yung (Louis Cha), 20th century Chinese-language novelist
Robert Jordan (James Oliver Rigney, Jr.), the author of the bestselling The Wheel of Time fantasy series.
Ann Landers (Esther Pauline Friedman), advice columnist
Stan Lee (Stanley Martin Lieber), comic book pioneer
Maddox (George Ouzounian), The Best Page in the Universe
Mao Dun (Shen Dehong), 20th century Chinese novelist, cultural critic, and journalist
Multatuli (Eduard Douwes Dekker), Dutch writer famous for his satirical novel, Max Havelaar (1860)
Murray Leinster (William Fitzgerald Jenkins), 20th century science fiction author
Moliere (Jean Baptiste Poquelin), 17th century French theatre writer, director and actor, and writer of comic satire.
Natsume Soseki (Natsume Kinnosuke), early 20th century Japanese novelist
Gerard de Nerval (Gerard Labrunie), 19th century French poet, essayist and translator
Pablo Neruda (Ricardo Eliecer Neftali Reyes Basoalto) 20th century Chilean poet. Nobel laureate.
Abu Nuwas (Hasin ibn Hani al Hakami) 8th century Arabic language poet (Persia)
George Orwell (Eric Arthur Blair), 20th century British author and essayist
Ouida (Marie Louise de la Ramee), 19th century English novelist
William Penn (Jeremiah Evarts), 19th century activist against Indian removal
Q (Arthur Quiller-Couch), late 19th and early 20th century British author, poet, and literary critic
Ellery Queen (Frederic Dannay and Manfred B. Lee), 20th century detective fiction
Pauline Reage (Anne Desclos), 20th century French author and critic who wrote Histoire d'O
Henry Handel Richardson (Ethel Florence Lindesay Richardson), early 20th century Australian author
Saki (Hector Hugh Munro), early 20th century British satirist
George Sand (Armandine Lucie Aurore Dupin), 19th century French novelist and early feminist
Sayeh (h. . syh) Hushang Ebtehaj, 20th century Iranian poet (hwshng bthj)
Dr. Seuss (Theodore Seuss Geisel), also used "Theo. LeSieg", 20th century American writer and cartoonist best known for his of children's books
Shahriar (shhryr) Seyyed Mohammad Hossein Behjat-Tabrizi (), an Iranian poet, writing in Persian and Azerbaijani
Cordwainer Smith (Paul M. A. Linebarger), 20th century science fiction author
Lemony Snicket (author of A Series of Unfortunate Events-Daniel Handler)
Stendhal (Marie-Henri Beyle),19th century French writer
Max Stirner (Johann Kaspar Schmidt), 19th century German philosopher
James Tiptree, Jr (Alice Sheldon), 20th century science fiction author
Toegye (Yi Hwang), 16th century Korean Confucian scholar
Tom Tomorrow (Dan Perkins) 20th century editorial cartoonist
Lazlo Toth (Don Novello), using name taken from that of a deranged man who vandalized Michelangelo's Pieta in Rome, the pen name was used for the satiric "The Lazlo Letters" and other books
Trevanian (Dr. Rodney Whitaker), 20th century American spy novelist
Mark Twain (Samuel Langhorn Clemens, also used "Sieur Louis de Conte" for his fictional biography of Joan of Arc), 19th century American humorist, writer and lecturer
Abigail Van Buren (Dear Abby - Pauline Esther Friedman Phillips), advice columnist
Voltaire (Francois-Marie Arouet), 18th century French Enlightenment writer, deist and philosopher
Wang Shiwei Wang Shi Wei (Wang Sidao Wang Si Dao ), 20th century Chinese journalist and literary writer
Artemus Ward (Charles Farrar Browne), 19th century American humor writer
Ibn Warraq is a pen name that has traditionally been adopted by dissident authors throughout the history of Islam, including a current writer from India.
Wonkette (Ana Marie Cox), political gossip weblog writer
Hajime Yatate (Various Sunrise animation staff members)
Yulgok (Yi I), 16th century Korean Confucian scholar
Sources