Adopting a pseudonym grants people the ability to conceal their true identity for personal, political, and ethical reasons. Other reasons for using a different name or a nom de plume include privacy, avoiding overexposure, crossing into different genres, creating a sense of individuality, and even simplifying one’s birth name in hopes of making it more memorable. Let’s take a look at a few of the names behind the names of some recognizable people.
Anne Rice
Real Name: Howard Allen Frances O’Brien
Originally named after her father, the author of Vampire Chronicles changed her name to “Anne” upon her first day of school to avoid being bullied. After marrying her now-deceased husband Stan Rice, she used her married name to publish the majority of her work. Rice adopted a couple other pen names, including Anne Rampling and A.N Roquelaure when she published some erotic novels.
Agatha Christie
Real Name: Agatha Mary Clarissa Miller Christie
Under the pen name Mary Westmacott, Agatha Christie was able to divert from her usual realm of writing mystery and crime novels. The alias allowed Christie to explore writing about human psychology and love without expectations from her already established mystery fan base. Agatha chose her new name by combining her middle name (Mary) and the family name of distant relatives (Westmacott). She successfully used the pseudonym for nearly twenty years without revealing her true identity.
George Orwell
Real Name: Eric Blair
Before Animal Farm and 1984, Eric Blair published a memoir titled Down and Out in Paris and London in 1933. He adopted the name George Orwell so his family would not be embarrassed as he recounted his experiences growing up in poverty. Being a fan of English tradition, Blair also felt that Orwell sounded like a reputable British name.
Maya Angelou
Real Name: Marguerite Annie Johnson
Now a household name, Maya Angelou was born Marguerite Annie Johnson in 1928. Married briefly to a Greek sailor named Tosh Angelos, the pen name Maya Angelou was created when the writer combined her nickname (Maya) with an alternative version of her ex-husband’s last name.
Billie Eilish
Real Name: Billie Eilish Pirate Baird O’Connell (born December 18, 2001) is an American singer and songwriter. She first gained public attention in 2015 with her debut single “Ocean Eyes”, written and produced by her brother Finneas O’Connell, with whom she collaborates on music and live shows.
Butch Cassidy, Billy the Kid, Neil Young
Real Names:
Robert LeRoy Parker (April 13, 1866 – November 7, 1908), better known as Butch Cassidy, was an American train and bank robber and the leader of a gang of criminal outlaws known as the “Wild Bunch” in the Old West.
Henry McCarty (September 17 or November 23, 1859 – July 14, 1881), alias William H. Bonney, better known as Billy the Kid, was an American outlaw and gunfighter of the Old West who is alleged to have killed 21 men before he was shot and killed at the age of 21.
Young directed (or co-directed) films using the pseudonym “Bernard Shakey”, including Journey Through the Past (1973), Rust Never Sleeps (1979), Human Highway (1982), Greendale (2003), CSNY/Déjà Vu (2008), and Harvest Time (2022). He also contributed to the soundtracks of the movies Philadelphia (1993) and Dead Man (1995).
Colonel Tom Parker, Estee Lauder, Jim McCay
Real Names:
Thomas Andrew Parker (born Andreas Cornelis van Kuijk; June 26, 1909 – January 21, 1997), commonly known as Colonel Tom Parker, was a Dutch-American musical entrepreneur. He was best known as the talent manager of Elvis Presley. Parker was born in the Netherlands and entered the United States illegally when he was 20 years old. He adopted a new name and claimed to have been born in the United States.
Estée Lauder, Real Name: Josephine Esther Mentzer; July 1, 1908 – April 24, 2004, was an American businesswoman. She co-founded her eponymous cosmetics company with her husband, Joseph Lauter (later Lauder). Lauder was the only woman on Time magazine’s 1998 list of the 20 most influential business geniuses of the 20th century.
James Kenneth McManus (September 24, 1921 – June 7, 2008), better known professionally as Jim McKay, was an American television sports journalist. McKay was best known for hosting ABC’s Wide World of Sports (1961–1998). His introduction for that program has passed into American pop culture, in which viewers were reminded of the show’s mission (“Spanning the globe to bring you the constant variety of sports”) and what lay ahead (“the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat“).
Joe Louis
Real Name:
Joseph Louis Barrow (May 13, 1914 – April 12, 1981) was an American professional boxer who competed from 1934 to 1951. Nicknamed “The Brown Bomber“, Louis is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential boxers of all time. He reigned as the world heavyweight champion from 1937 until his temporary retirement in 1949. He was victorious in 25 consecutive title defenses, a record for all weight classes. Louis had the longest single reign as champion of any boxer in history.
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; 18 December 6 December] 1878 – 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953.
Pablo Picasso
Pablo Picasso, Spanish painter; born Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso.
J. D. Vance
JD Vance, American politician and author, was born James Donald Bowman. After his parents Donald and Beverly (née Vance) Bowman divorced he took his grandfather’ surname as his legal name.
Diane Keaton
Diane Keaton, American actress, was originally named Diane Hall, but could not use that name professionally as it belonged to another actress, so she selected her own mother’s maiden name as her professional surname.
Barry Manilow
Barry Manilow was born Barry Alan Pincus on June 17, 1943, in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Edna Manilow and Harold Kelliher, a truck driver of Irish descent.
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