The Curious Case of the Nom De Plume Part One

“We each write under a nom-de-plume. Mine is Rosamund Montmorency.” – Anne of Green Gables

The pen name, the literary alias, the pseudonym, the nom de plum – these are used when an author, for one reason or another, does not wish their actual name to appear on the covers of the work they publish.  Some novelists are more famous for their assumed names than their given names.  For example, while bibliophiles will recognise that Charles Lutwidge Dodgson is really Lewis Carroll, most people are much more familiar with the author’s playful pseudonym, created by combining an Anglicised version of his middle name with an Irish surname variant of Charles.  Other past novelists’ pen names are virtually unknown today—if I were to mention the author “Boz” in a conversation I would be very surprised if anyone realised I was talking about Charles Dickens.

There are many reasons that an author might choose a nom de plume, so I’m only going to discuss a selection over the next few days. 

Women using Male Names

It was relatively common in the 19^th century for a woman wanting her publications to be taken seriously to assume a man’s name when writing.

• Although their identities were “exploded” not long after they first published their novels, sisters Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Bronte originally hid their female names, choosing instead to write as Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell.  I find their taste in names very interesting.  They could have easily published under much more common masculine names, say, Charles, Edward, and Arthur; instead, they chose to use surnames as their supposed given names.  While giving your son a name that was originally a last name was already common in the 19^th century, it strikes me that by using less firmly entrenched male names that the Bronte sisters were obscuring their gender, rather than definitely pretending to be male.

• Conversely, when Mary Ann Evans published her novels she chose to use the decidedly male George Eliot.  This was in part because her goal in writing was absolute realism and she didn’t want people to think she was merely a writer of romances.  However, she also hid her identity in order to protect her somewhat scandalous private life.

• French novelist Amandine Aurore Lucile Dupin also chose the name George when publishing. She adopted the pseudonym after co-writing Rose Et Blanche with Jules Sandeau.  The collection of short stories were published under the name Jules Sand, and when Sand later published works on her own she kept the last name and added George.  Given that Sand adopted masculine dress and habits (she smoked tobacco) as well as a masculine name, I don’t think she was too concerned about hiding her feminine identity.

Even in the 20^th century some female authors chose to obscure their gender.

• American authors Nelle Harper Lee and Mary Flannery O’Connor both dropped their feminine first name when writing their works of Southern Gothic fiction.
• When Edith Pargeter wrote her Brother Cadfael mystery series, she chose the alliterative but masculine appellation Ellis Peters—even though she had already published some works under her given name.
• And while she didn’t actually assume a man’s name, Joan Rowling was instructed to pick up a middle initial upon the publication of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone so that young boys interested in purchasing the novel wouldn’t be put off by an obviously female author. Rowling chose K in honour of her grandmother Kathleen and so J.K. Rowling was born.

While a teenager, I spent some time thinking about this trend.  I decided to take my own name (Charlotte D.) and alter it to see what kind of masculine pen name I came up with.  However, I quickly realised that by giving myself the male variant of Charlotte and slightly changing my own last name that the resulting name, Charles Dickens, was already taken. Now I’m married, so Charles Dickens doesn’t resemble my own name as much anymore.  Besides, I’m proud to be a woman and don’t think this tradition is one that I’d ever follow.

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