Pen Names

@patgalca (18174)
Orangeville, Ontario
May 22, 2007 11:30pm CST
I was just reading the discussion about women changing their names when they get married, whether to keep their maiden name or hyphenate with their husband's. What would you do when you get your first book published? What name do you want to be known by? Do you want your friends from the past to recognize your name and therefore use your maiden name? Or do you want to proudly use your husband's name? Or hyphenate? What happens if you publish a few books using your married name and become famous by that name, and then you divorced? Would you continue to publish under your husband's name? What if you remarried but you are already famous under your spouse's name? I know these are a lot of questions but it is something I think about constantly. Not that I am predicting the end of my marriage at some point, but it IS something to be concerned with. Actors and actresses rarely change their last name when they get married. I have several choices for a pen name. For one, my father came to me in a dream and showed me a winning short story. The author's name was my REAL first name (I go by my second name) and my maiden name. I don't think anyone would know who that is. But I wonder whether he was telling me to do that. The other option is to use a totally different name as a pen name. Someone made a game of using a pet's name and the name of the street you live on. I used the name of a life-size doll who became a family member (LOL!) and my street and came up with Audrey Highland. It actually has a nice ring to it and I will probably use that name for a character in one of my stories. So, you future published authors, what are YOU going to do?
3 people like this
4 responses
• Canada
23 May 07
Neither my pen name will be Azlyn Pierce... Azlyn because I love the name and Pierce because thet is my mothers maiden name
1 person likes this
@Woodpigeon (3710)
• Ireland
2 Jun 07
Hmn, not that I am going to be publishing any novels any time soon, but I think if I did I know what my pen name would be. I think I would use my first initial the way JK Rowling does, and then use my real last name. I have kept my maiden surname, anyhow. That is my signature, anyhow, so at least I would be ready for all the autographs that I would have to sign, lol!
@BarBaraPrz (45437)
• St. Catharines, Ontario
23 May 07
I've always used my own name, even when I was married. (There's no law insisting women have to go by their husband's name.)
• United States
2 Jun 07
I'm engaged and I'm thinking I'm probably going to take his last name. But I'm definately going to continue to use my birth name professionally, including for my writing. But if I ever wrote a romance novel, for instance, I think I'd probably come up with a pen name - I don't have a good romance novel author name! I think I'd probably pick something that I though was a good match for my style, maybe from names out of the family tree.