Forming a Pen Name?

The genre is important to know. You'd have a hard time selling a romance novel with a name like Butch McManly. Anything geared towards women specifically will either need to be feminine, gender neutral, or initials.

Both of your picks sound okay to me, though I don't write in that genre. I'd be less inclined to pick Ellery though. I think it sounds funny, but that may just be me.

There's a pretty good chance your editor or agent will have something to say about this anyway, so try not to get too hung up on one particular name. Your title needs to almost be as open to change as your book titles.

In addition you can probably have a pen name that applies to your life by looking at the names of those who've influenced you or names that have some significance.

I have used names of family members and roads where I've lived.

Actually, since you specifically write romance and are looking for a name appropriate to the genre, you might want to have a mod move this thread to the romance forum. If anyone would know, it's them.

I'll sell you my pen name of Ed Panther for 500 billion dollars. Haha just kidding this isn't my pen name. That would be ridiculous.

Go with a common and strong name. I originally was Gregory Lionwhyte but then decided it was too silly. So, I changed it Allan Bishop. A vanilla name but it still works.

I think of a pen name as about the same importance as a story title.

It certainly doesn't override the content of the story, but it is a nice way of representing what it is you're about, and can take the same or more amount of deliberation to come up with. Sometimes they will come easily, sometimes not.

Silver-Midnight said:

Ellery Ashe and Hadley Brice.

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I know you said you like those, but to be honest, they don't flow off the tongue very well. Just my opinion.

My suggestion would be: try not to overthink this. If something natural doesn't come to you, you can take it up with your agent when the time comes.

You mention two possibilities that "aren't taken" but I assure you there are a great many more. Nor is it necessary to get a public consensus. If you do need to use a pseudonym, play with combinations suitable to the genre until you find one that fits comfortably--anything from elegant to "plain vanilla." Just try to avoid the grandiose, the awkward and the too-clever.

For instance, you do want something that sounds professional, is fairly easy to pronounce, and preferably easy to spell. If it hints at your genre, all to the better.

You don't want a name that sounds like would-be royalty, is awkward on the tongue, or suggests that you used to work as a stripper in Las Vegas (even if you did).

For a nice source of first and last names to mix up, the local telephone book is a good start.

Best of luck!

Silver-Midnight said:

However, I don't how popular they would be.

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Let me add, unless you choose something really off-key, it won't matter. It's the book that will make your name popular, or not. Not the other way around.

I chose Izora Thomas as my pen name. I was my great great grandmother's name. You might look into the past for a name that suits you.

I chose Lady Dae as an alternative pen name and then found out Billie Holiday went by Lady Day and said well, I was named after her anyway, may as well. So Lady Dae it has been for the last three and a half years.

Make your pen name something that is easy to spell, not in use by an adult entertainer and for which you can get the .com domain name.

Karen Junker said:

Make your pen name something that is easy to spell, not in use by an adult entertainer and for which you can get the .com domain name.

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This. In this day and age, I think the googleability and ability to grab the domain name are important if you're creating a pen. If you're using your real name and there are a ton of people, you could always go around it by using "firstnamelastnameauthor.com" or something, but you're always going to struggle with google.

So as long as you're choosing a name anyway, why not go for one that you can corner the market on google search easily? (within reason, of course--Jackelizan Humperdink would probably corner a google search, but might not make the world's greatest pen! )

AloneBadman said:

I originally was Gregory Lionwhyte but then decided it was too silly.

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That's a totally awesome name; it sounds like a character from Black Adder.

My own pen name (Violetta Vane) is very stripper/porn-y but that's perfectly all right by me, since I write m/m erotic romance. I checked it to make sure the name was fairly unique and would give me a good Google search result.

I took my names (I have two middle names) and shortened it. So I came up with Ae Grace and Emi Rin. For Emi Rin, I took one middle name and my last name and shortened it again.

This kind of thing always makes me think of Luther Blisset...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luther_Blissett_(nom_de_plume)

...It's a name I'd consider using.

Pheasant_Plucker said:

This kind of thing always makes me think of Luther Blisset...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luther_Blissett_(nom_de_plume)

...It's a name I'd consider using.

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Nothing to add here, except you and crunchyblanket have my favourite screen names on this site.

scarletpeaches said:

Nothing to add here, except you and crunchyblanket have my favourite screen names on this site.

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Why, thank you.

Yours isn't so bad either. Probably more original than mine.

Crunchyblanket... I really don't want to think about too much.

Silver-Midnight said:

Ellery Ashe and Hadley Brice.

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You say that you write romance, both of these names are very masculine sounding, and if I were to just hear the names, they put me in mind of thriller writers.

EDIT: I mean I like these names, but I just don't like them a whole lot and I don't know if they suit me. I mean they are suitable, but I don't know if they are for me.

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You are potentially going to be stuck with that name if a series or something takes off, so it should be one that you like.

I have two pen names - one is a male name that's based on two of my favourite characters, and one is all the letters of my maiden name rearranged into a new name (that was fun)

Lydia Sharp said:

I know you said you like those, but to be honest, they don't flow off the tongue very well. Just my opinion.

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I agree. Ellery Ashe is particularly awkward and instantly forgetable.

If you are going to write in romance then a more feminine name might work better, but also look at the sub genre that you are writing in.

For instance, a regency romance written by Nikki Zamboni-Kelk doesn't seem right, while Elenor Mountbatten probably doesn't write contemporay chick lit.

I don't know what you mean about the names being popular? The writing makes the name popular, not the other way around. You can call yourself Joe Crap, and it wouldn't matter. It's the books that need to be popular, not the name on the books.

Write great books, and everyone will be talking about you, whatever name you go by. Write bad books, and no one will even know your name, whatever it is.

I believe you're over thinking the whole issue. Just pick a name you like and go with it. Over thinking leads to over fancy, and that can be distracting.

I have to say I'd be terrified of buying an m/m erotic romance by Joe Crap.