The Pen Name

Status
Not open for further replies.

AlterEgox5

Expert Procrastinator
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Dec 4, 2009
Messages
608
Reaction score
47
Location
That other half of Missouri
Website
abooksellerblog.blogspot.com
If you had to choose a pen name, what might it be? Feel free to explain the reason behind the name if you like.


I'm a girl, but if I needed one, I'd end up Nick Trevano.
Nick = one of my nicknames
Trevano = great grandfather's last name
 

HConn

Whore for genre
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 12, 2005
Messages
814
Reaction score
182
Location
Inside a cursed painting
Website
www.harryjconnolly.com
If I had to choose a pen name, it would be very close to my current name--maybe add my middle initial. The only reason I'd need one was if my current series is a flop and bookstores associate my name with poor sales. A slightly-altered name would let me start fresh.

Donald Westlake, a man with many pen names, always said "Simple last name, unusual first name.
 

Chris P

Likes metaphors mixed, not stirred
Moderator
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Nov 4, 2009
Messages
24,294
Reaction score
10,645
Location
Wash., D.C. area
I've recently chosen mine: Patch Nelson

The "Patch" is a bastardization of one of those Star Wars name things, where you put the first few letters of your last name with the first three letters of your hometown, etc. The "Nelson" was simple, was not an alliteration, and not the last name of someone super famous "Patch Rowling King Meyer."

My real name is much too common; there are at least two other active writers with the same name plus a semi-famous university professor.
 

chevbrock

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Nov 24, 2007
Messages
966
Reaction score
179
Location
Hunter Valley, Australia
I see this starting as a game in another thread!

I reckon you use this system: the name of your first pet, and the brand of the last alcohol you drank. Here's mine: Kara Chittendon
 

JackinElgin

back for more
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Oct 21, 2009
Messages
131
Reaction score
22
Location
Elgin, OK
Website
www.facebook.com
Elliott Sawyer, I had just watched an episode of Law and Order SVU and was watching an Episode of LOST on Netflix when I was asked by the Publisher for my pen name.

It was a natural result of media saturation.
 

Caitlin Black

Wild one
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Sep 17, 2009
Messages
44,834
Reaction score
2,929
Age
42
Location
The exact centre of all of existence
For my romances/eroticas - Hayley Simons. (My real first and middle names are Leigh and Simon, not necessarily in that order).

For my thrillers - damn, I've forgotten which name I had picked out... sigh.

For my YA comedic fantasies - Cliff Face. Seriously. Because I'm just THAT cool.

For my autobiography - Maxi Million. Because I can, and don't want to be a famous name.
 

Izz

Doing the Space Operatic
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Mar 8, 2008
Messages
8,657
Reaction score
2,857
Location
NZ
Website
www.justgoodfiction.com
I use my middle name and my mum's middle name for my spec fic. For my non-spec fic i throw in the initial of my dad's middle name.
 

myrmidon

i AM batman (not really)
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Aug 12, 2008
Messages
340
Reaction score
59
Location
Portland, OR
Website
1979semifinalist.com
I see this starting as a game in another thread!

I reckon you use this system: the name of your first pet, and the brand of the last alcohol you drank. Here's mine: Kara Chittendon

Lightning Veuve.

Yikes. At least I won't run into a lot of other Lightning Veuves...like, ever.
 

Enzo

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 1, 2007
Messages
1,190
Reaction score
71
Location
Eurasia West, Eurasia East
Rio Moss.
I took the first name from British football star Rio Ferdinand, and of course it's also simple and exotic because it's the Spanish word for river and everybody knows Rio de Janeiro.
Moss from Kate Moss but mainly because it's monosyllabic and English.
 

roonil_wazlib

Smile.
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 3, 2008
Messages
349
Reaction score
39
Location
Colorado
Website
earlymorningfog.tumblr.com
Briony Tilney

Briony because I love love love it (not that I don't love my real first name, but it's a rather popular name)
Tilney because Henry Tilney is my absolute favourite romantic lead
 
Last edited:

AuburnAssassin

Darkly Romantic Curmudgeon
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 19, 2009
Messages
2,559
Reaction score
544
Location
Pacific NW USA
Website
clairegillian.wordpress.com
I always think of Briony as the heroine in Mary Stewart's Touch Not the Cat.

I picked mine using several means (family names, names I liked, etc) but then discarded several after doing domain searches on them to see if the dot com's were taken or not. I then snagged the dot com of the one I ultimately chose....not that I've used it yet.
 

eyeblink

Barbara says hi
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Nov 14, 2007
Messages
6,391
Reaction score
1,016
Location
Aldershot, UK
I am so screwed.

Me too. If I say my name, almost nobody can spell it correctly (my surname mainly, though I have had misspellings of my first name). If they see it written down, they often mispronounce the surname.

But I've been published under that name, so too late to change now.
 

AlishaS

Is swimming with creativity frogs
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Oct 20, 2009
Messages
1,617
Reaction score
119
Location
Canada
Website
www.averyolive.blogspot.com
Liberty Marshall.

When my husband and I first got together we talked about anything and everything and one of the things that caught my attention (and we still talk about to this day) is how he want's an alter ego named Rick Marshall, so of course I was like ok I need one too. I couldn't think of anything cool so I picked Liberty Bell. We use to joke that if we ever need to go on the "run" we would use these names. Well since my husband and I got married I figured Rick and Liberty should too, so there you have it Liberty Marshall.

My pet/booze name would be Sam Blue Curacao or Sam Sour Puss (it was mixed drink lol)
 
Last edited:

gabbleandhiss

1% Irish, 99% blarney
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Apr 20, 2005
Messages
155
Reaction score
15
I liked a pen name so much that I had my name legally changed to it. Without being prompted, the judge said my new name sounded writerly.

Donald Westlake, a man with many pen names, always said "Simple last name, unusual first name.

Score another point for my new name.
 

Wavy_Blue

Adventure is out there!
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Oct 24, 2008
Messages
878
Reaction score
64
Location
Neverland
I see this starting as a game in another thread!

I reckon you use this system: the name of your first pet, and the brand of the last alcohol you drank. Here's mine: Kara Chittendon

Well, since I don't drink the alchy, here's the next best thing:

Ditto Mountain Dew.


Rolls off the tongue, dunnit?
 
Status
Not open for further replies.