Wednesday's Words

First off a huge thanks to Shallee for hosting a wonderful blogfest yesterday. I learned tons of info on writing process's and advice from other writers. Big blog hug to you all.

Now today is Wednesday's Words and I thought I would keep it about something writerly. Without further ado our words are:

Pen Name or Pseudonym

Pen Names or Pseudonyms are false identities people or groups adopt. Some times people use these alter egos for privacy or to escape persecution. Sometimes they just don't like their regular names. Female authors would use manly pen names during the 19th century when the profession was male dominated. Even today authors will use androgynous names to cross over into different genres. Some people use an abbreviated style of their own name. That's what I do with L.A. Colvin. But pen names and pseudonyms are not exclusive to writers. Here is a list of occupations that are known to have fake names:

Artists
Musicians
Computer Users (avatars, screen name etc)
Actors
Disc Jockeys
Models

Plus Royal family members are known by a different name than their birth names in a lot of instances.

Religions are very big in the false name game.
Catholics (nuns and popes)
Buddhism
Islam
Wicca
Are just to name a few.

Then you have the political arenas. It was very popular during the 18-19th century for political articles to be signed with a pseudonym. What a coincidence I was about to forget the criminal rings too. ;) John aka Bob aka Steve. Last but not least, our brave soldiers who protect our land and freedom. Special forces always use different names while on assignment.
The next time someone gives you grief or laughs at you for using a pen name you can tell them humans have been doing this for hundreds of years.

On a side note I ran across this PEN NAME GENERATOR. Just type your name into the space and pick a gender. Try it out. It's a blast.



My pen name it generated for me was Star Noble.

I did my husbands and it was Sir William Pennybanks. hehehehe

Do you use a pen name or are you planning to do so? Will you use your own name or an abbreviated version?