What's in a Name?

Samuel Clemens used a pseudonym, so did Charles Dodgson, Mary Ann Evans, Eric Blair and David Cornwell (amongst others).  Some writers have used several – Eleanor Hibbert’s best known pseudonyms were Jean Plaidy, Victoria Holt and Philippa Carr, but she also used several lesser known ones - Eleanor Burford, Elbur Ford, Kathleen Kellow, Anne Percival, and Ellalice Tate.

Writers used pseudonyms for a variety of reasons:

Sometimes their name is well-known in another sphere: if your name was John Kennedy or George Bush, you might want to change it.

It might be too common – John Smith or Mary Taylor for example.

It might be inappropriate as a writer – the name Paige Turner comes to mind.  It might be genuine but it sounds too contrived.

A real name may be difficult to spell or pronounce – which could create difficulties if someone is looking you up online or trying to ask for your book.  

Sometimes writers use different names for different genres; sometimes a woman might want to ‘disguise’ herself as a man.  The Bronte sisters did this when they first submitted their manuscripts, fearing that women would not be taken seriously in the male-dominated Victorian world.  But then so did J.K.Rowling, because she thought young boys might not want to read books written by a woman.

There can also be times when a writer wishes to take another name because of their ‘other’ careers.  A doctor might not want his/her patients to realise he/she is a paranormal writer; a first grade teacher might not want the parents of his/her children to know he/she writes erotic romances or horror stories.

I use a pen-name.  Why? 

Not for any of the above reasons, but simply because I don’t like my real name!

I hated my first name from being a child.  No-one I knew at school had the same name, and I longed for a what I considered a more ‘normal’ name like Anne, Margaret or Elizabeth (hardly surprising, therefore, that these were the names I gave my heroines in my very early stories). 

My surname is still that of my ex-husband.  I kept it when my daughters were younger for their sakes, since it was their surname, of course.  They’ve now both changed their surnames because of marriage, so I suppose I could have changed mine since I dislike it.  But (a) it’s how everyone knows me and (b) it’s too much hassle to change my bank accounts and other ‘official’ stuff like that.

When I wrote my early novels (in the 60’s and 70’s), I used my first name combined with my mother’s maiden name (which is actually my middle name – another grumble there, since I hated having a surname as a middle name, but that’s another story!).  Trouble was, that surname had a fairly unique spelling, so of course it was frequently spelt wrongly!

Fast forward 30+ years to when I re-entered the world of fiction writing, and decided I needed a different pen-name.  Paula was an obvious choice as a variation which I preferred to my real name (and which, in fact, several people actually call me).  I toyed around with various surnames – but people who know me well understand why ‘Martin’ eventually won.  One friend did suggest, however, that I should have called myself ‘Sheena Martin’ – no prizes for working that one out!

Maybe I should have chosen a more ‘unusual’ name but at least my pen-name is easy to remember, easy to spell and easy to say.  And I’ve now got used to signing it on the first page of ‘His Leading Lady’ too!