Pen names, or noms de plume, are a literary tradition. These famous authors all used pen names for various reasons. My favorite bit of trivia is at the bottom of the page, how Samuel Clemens chose the name Mark Twain.
A. M. Barnard = Louisa May Alcott
The Little Women author also published stories in periodicals under the androgynous name A. M. Barnard. This pen name was a literary secret until the 1970s when historians discovered letters between Alcott and her publishers.
Richard Bachman = Stephen King
The king of horror publishes his most twisted stories under the pseudonym Richard Bachman. I’m not sure I want to know what is included in tales that are considered too disturbing for King’s name.
Robert Galbraith = Joanne Rowling
The name J. K. Rowling was so strongly tied to the wizarding world of Harry Potter, that when Rowling wanted to write other kinds of stories, she chose to take on a pen name, Robert Galbraith. Another interesting tidbit, Rowling’s publisher asked her to use her initials for the Harry Potter books out of concern that pre-adolescent boys wouldn’t read books written by a woman. Rowling didn’t have a middle name, so she borrowed an initial from her grandmother Kathleen.
Mary Westmacott = Agatha Christie
Agatha Christie is often referred to as the Queen of Crime, and for good reason. She is the best selling novelist of all time and ranks third (after the Bible and William Shakespeare) for most books sold in English. Christie’s name was so closely tied with crime, that when she wanted to publish romance novels, she had to do so under a pen name, Mary Westmacott.
George Orwell = Eric Arthur Blair
Eric Arthur Blair chose to write under a pen name so that he wouldn’t embarrass his family. He picked the name George after the patron saint of England, and Orwell after the River Orwell, a popular sailing spot that he liked to visit.
Stan Lee = Stanley Martin Lieber
Stanley Martin Lieber started out writing comic books but wanted to save his real name for the more literary novels he hoped to write later. So he wrote comics under the pen name Stan Lee. But he achieved so much success as a comic author, that Lieber eventually legally changed his name to Stan Lee.
Mark Twain = Samuel Clemens
Thanks to our high school English teachers, most of us know that Samuel Clemens wrote under the pen name, Mark Twain. But I just learned why Clemens chose his famous nom de plume. Mark Twain was a river boat term meaning measuring two fathoms: Mark (measure) Twain (two).