This is a list of pen names used by notable authors of written work. A pen name or nom de plume is a pseudonym adopted by an author. A pen name may be used to make the author' name more distinctive, to disguise the author's gender, to distance the author from their other works, to protect the author from retribution for their writings, to combine more than one author into a single author, or for any of a number of reasons related to the marketing or aesthetic presentation of the work. The author's name may be known only to the publisher, or may come to be common knowledge.
| Pen name | Real name | class=unsortable | Details |
|---|---|---|---|
| A. C. Q. W. | 19th-century American poet, novelist, hymnist, diarist | ||
| Anton Hansen | 20th-century Estonian writer | ||
| Daniel Mallory | Author of The Woman in the Window | ||
| Alice Flowerdew | English teacher, religious poet, hymnist | ||
| A Friend | 19th-century American writer | ||
| A Lady | 19th-century American novelist | ||
| A Lady | 19th-century British novelist | ||
| A Lady of Maine | Maine's first novelist[1] | ||
| A Lady of Massachusetts | Maine's first novelist | ||
| A Lady of South Carolina | 19th-century American diarist, author | ||
| A New Englander Over-Sea | Used to publish Authorship, a Tale[2] | ||
| A.A. Fair | One of several that he used | ||
| Aapeli | 20th-century Finnish writer and chatty article writer | ||
| Aaron Wolfe | |||
| Abigail Van Buren | Mother and daughter advice columnists for Dear Abby | ||
| Abram Tertz | |||
| Hasin ibn Hani al Hakami | 8th-century Arabic language poet (Persia) | ||
| Acton Bell | |||
| Adasha | American lecturer, author, social reformer | ||
| Adidnac | American author, educator | ||
| Adrienne | 19th-century American poet, novelist (also used pen name, "Amelia") | ||
| Ali Ahmad Said Esber | Syrian poet, essayist and translator | ||
| Æ | Irish poet and theosophist (1867 - 1935) | ||
| Aiguillette | 19th-century British writer | ||
| Alan Gould | |||
| various | Pen name used by American film directors under certain circumstances | ||
| Alberto Pincherle | |||
| Alcofribas Nasier | |||
| Sharon M. Kava | American author of psychological suspense novels. | ||
| Alexander Kent | |||
| Alexis Hill Alexis Hill Jordan | 20th-century American romance novelists | ||
| Algoth Tietäväinen | 20th-century Finnish author | ||
| Alice Acland | 20th-century English author | ||
| Alice Addertongue | |||
| Denise Tart, Jane St Vincent Welch, Jane Richards, Jenny Crocker, and Madeline Oliver | Group of Australian collaborative writers | ||
| Alma Vivian Mylo | American author, editor | ||
| Alyssa Howard | 20th-century American romance novelists | ||
| Amanda Cross | 20th-century American mystery writer | ||
| Amanda Quick | American writer of romance novels | ||
| Amelia | 19th-century American poet | ||
| Railssa Peluti Alencar | 21st-century Brazilian author | ||
| Jacques Anatole François Thibault | 20th-century French author | ||
| Alice Mary Norton | 20th-century American fiction author whose other aliases include Andrew North and Allen Weston | ||
| Andrej Zivor | |||
| Andrew MacAllan | 20th-century British writer | ||
| Andrew MacDonald | |||
| Ann Atom | 19th-century American novelist, journalist | ||
| Ann Landers | Advice columnists for Ask Ann Landers | ||
| Anna L. Cunningham | American poet, writer | ||
| Anne Chaplet | 20th-century German crime novelist and journalist | ||
| Anne Drinker | 19th-century American writer | ||
| Anne Hathaway | American writer, educator, social reformer | ||
| Anne Knish | Co-author of Spectra: A Book of Poetic Experiments | ||
| Anne Marreco | 20th-century English author | ||
| Juliet Marion Hulme | |||
| Howard Allen Frances O'Brien | Other aliases: Anne Rampling and A.N. Roquelaure | ||
| Annulet Andrews | American journalist, poet, novelist | ||
| Anonymous | Used to conceal his identity for the initial publication of the novel Primary Colors | ||
| Anthony Afterwit | |||
| William Anthony Parker White | American science fiction editor and writer of mystery novels and short stories | ||
| John Anthony Burgess Wilson | 20th-century British writer | ||
| Lucy Beatrice Malleson | British author of the Arthur Crook crime fiction novels | ||
| Anthony Mills | British military commander after writing novels, short stories, and other publications earlier in his career. | ||
| Anthony North | |||
| Antosha Chekhonte | 19th-century Russian physician and author, who also used the pseudonyms "Man Without a Spleen" and "My Brother's Brother"[3] | ||
| Arkon Daraul | |||
| Artemus Ward | 19th-century American humor writer | ||
| Asdreni | 20th-century Albanian poet | ||
| Auber Forestier | 19th-century American musician, writer | ||
| Aunt Dorothy | American poet and author of the long nineteenth century | ||
| Aunt Fanny | 19th-century American children's writer | ||
| Aunt Julia | American temperance educator, activist, editor, writer of the long nineteenth century | ||
| Aunt Libbie | American philosopher, author of the long nineteenth century | ||
| Aunt Marjorie | American poet, author, editor of the long nineteenth century | ||
| Aunt Nabby | American novelist, short-story writer of the long nineteenth century | ||
| Aunt Philury | American editor, author, publisher, journalist of the long nineteenth century | ||
| Aunt Stomly | American editor and evangelist of the long nineteenth century | ||
| Edward Irving Wortis | |||
| Chizuko Miura | 20th-century Japanese novelist | ||
| Alisa Zinov'yevna Rosenbaum | 20th-century fiction writer and creator of the philosophy Objectivism | ||
| Azorín | |||
| B. | 19th-century American hymnwriter | ||
| unknown | 20th-century novelist, aka Bruno Traven | ||
| B. E. E. | 19th-century American writer, artist | ||
| B. F. Cocker | |||
| Li Yaotang | 20th-century Chinese writer | ||
| Banaphul | Bengali author, playwright and poet | ||
| Barbara Michaels | |||
| Barbara Vine | Late 20th- and early 21st-century British author who wrote a subset of her work under this pseudonym | ||
| Mark C. McGarrity | American crime fiction novelist and newspaper feature writer of nature and outdoor recreation topics | ||
| BB | 20th-century illustrator and children's book author | ||
| Used for the surrealist humorous column By the Way in the Daily Express | |||
| Gloria Jean Watkins | |||
| Belle Bremer | American poet of the long nineteenth century | ||
| Benevolus | |||
| Berrintho | 17th-century German poet | ||
| Bessie Beech | American author and journalist of the long nineteenth century | ||
| Betsey Bancker | American author of the long nineteenth century | ||
| Kanagasabai Subburathnam | 20th-century Tamil poet | ||
| Xie Wanying | 20th-century Chinese writer | ||
| Frédéric Louis Sauser | |||
| Bob Hart | |||
| Grigory Shalvovich Chkhartishvili | |||
| Boum | French Canadian animator, illustrator, and comic strip author | ||
| Boz | 19th-century British novelist | ||
| Boz | |||
| Henrietta Consuelo Sansom, Countess of Quigini Puliga | French writer, novelist | ||
| Alkibijad Nuša | |||
| Brian Coffey | |||
| Brynjolf Bjarme | |||
| Busy Body | |||
| C 33 | |||
| C. H. H. | American author, educator, reformer | ||
| C. H. Stranahan | American author, college founder | ||
| Cecil Smith | 20th-century writer of the Captain Horatio Hornblower novels, The African Queen, and other novels | ||
| Caelia Shortface | |||
| Camilla K. Von K. | 19th-century American poet, editor, author | ||
| Fortino Mario Alfonso Moreno Reyes | |||
| Caris Sima | 19th-century Canadian author | ||
| Carr Dickson | 20th-century author of detective stories | ||
| Carter Dickson | 20th-century author of detective stories | ||
| Carter Holmes | Used when writing for Blackwood's Magazine[4] | ||
| Cassandra | 20th-century left-wing journalist for The Daily Mirror | ||
| Judith Rumelt Lewis | American author of young adult fiction | ||
| Catharine Carr | British novelist | ||
| Catherine Cole | American journalist | ||
| Catherine Shaw | Author of mathematically themed classic murder mysteries | ||
| Chanakya | First Indian Prime Minister | ||
| Charles Louis Bernays | German journalist | ||
| Charles C. Lee | American non-fiction writer | ||
| Charles Moulton | Creator of Wonder Woman comic book character | ||
| Charles Norden | Author of The Alexandria Quartet and Panic Spring as Norden | ||
| Charlotte | American poet, story writer | ||
| Geraldine Halls | |||
| Cherry Barbara Grimm | |||
| Elisaveta Ivanovna Dmitrieva | |||
| Frances Christine Fisher Tiernan | American author of Land of the Sky | ||
| Mary Christianna Lewis | British crime fiction writer | ||
| Kevin Christopher McFadden | Prolific author of young-adult horror and sci-fi novels | ||
| Citizen | American educator, temperance reformer, writer | ||
| Claire Morgan | American novelist and short story writer | ||
| Clare Richards Clare Richmond | 20th-century American romance novelists | ||
| Clarence Wellford | American author, editor, anthologist, translator | ||
| Dorothy Clark and Isabel McMeekin | Wrote historical novels | ||
| Clem Watts | |||
| Clinton Montague | American writer | ||
| Clive Hamilton, N. W. Clerk | Used when publishing Spirits in Bondage and Dymer | ||
| Colin Thomas Currie | 20th-century Scottish novelist | ||
| Coralie | American social economist, writer | ||
| Paul M. A. Linebarger | 20th-century science fiction author | ||
| Cousin Annie | American journalist, editor, author | ||
| Cress | British-born American journalist, editor | ||
| Currer Bell | |||
| Kurt Erich Suckert | |||
| Daisy Eyebright | 19th-century American author | ||
| Dan Crow | |||
| Daniel Foe | |||
| Daniil Ivanovich Yuvachev | |||
| Danuta de Rhodes | |||
| various | Pen name used by BBC television drama screenwriters under certain circumstances | ||
| David Axton | |||
| unknown | American conspiracy theorist, researcher, and book author | ||
| Raymond Benson | |||
| Davina Blake | Used for her more contemporary work | ||
| Shuji Tsushima | |||
| Deanna Dwyer | |||
| Brook Busey | Screenwriter | ||
| Diedrich Knickerbocker | Early 19th-century U.S. writer | ||
| Dimasalang | National hero of the Philippines, author of Noli Me Tángere and El filibusterismo | ||
| Dina Linwood | American evangelist, temperance reformer, poet, author | ||
| Dominique Aury | 20th-century French author and critic who wrote under this name for her early works | ||
| Nelli Kaloglopoulou | 20th-century Greek LGBT author | ||
| Douglas Spaulding | |||
| Theodor Seuss Geisel | 20th-century American writer and cartoonist, best known for his children's books; aka Theo LeSieg for books that he wrote and others illustrated | ||
| E. B. C. | 19th-century prolific American writer | ||
| E. Cavazza; Elisabeth Pullen | American author, journalist, music critic | ||
| E. G. A. | American author, educator | ||
| Erika Leonard, born Erika Mitchell | Author of Fifty Shades of Grey | ||
| E. Livingston Prescott | British military novelist | ||
| E. N. Chapin | 19th-century American historian, author, newspaper publisher | ||
| Emily Elizabeth Steele Elliott | 19th-century English poet, hymnwriter, novelist, editor | ||
| E. V. Cunningham | American novelist | ||
| Mid-20th-century science fiction authors | |||
| Ulrich Leonard Tolle | Author of The Power of Now | ||
| Evan Hunter, born as Salvatore A. Lombino | |||
| Edgar Box | |||
| Edith Van Dyne | |||
| Edmond Dantès | 20th-century American screenwriter and director; used this name on later works | ||
| Robert Bruce Montgomery | British crime fiction writer | ||
| Tarō Hirai | |||
| Edward Charles Edmond Hemsted | 20th-century British educator and author | ||
| Edward Fallon | Robert Gregory Browne, J.D. Rhoades, Tim Tresslar, Will Graham, Rob Cornell, Allan Leverone | Supernatural suspense series LINGER, written by multiple authors. | |
| Edward Garrett | 19th-century Scottish poet, novelist | ||
| Edwin Caskoden | |||
| Egor Don | African-American journalist | ||
| Effie Johnson | American author | ||
| Elaine | Canadian playwright, author, journalist, poet | ||
| Eleanor Maria Easterbrook Ames | 19th-century American writer | ||
| Eleanor Putnam | 19th-century American poet, novelist | ||
| unknown | Italian novelist | ||
| Eleonore von Münster | 18th-century German writer | ||
| Elia | The pen name Lamb used as a contributor to The London Magazine. | ||
| Eliza | English poet, classicist, writer, translator, linguist, polymath | ||
| Elizabeth Peters | |||
| Ellen Burroughs | American poet, translator, and professor | ||
| Frederic Dannay and Manfred B. Lee | 20th-century detective fiction | ||
| Ellis Bell | |||
| Ellis Peters | |||
| Elma South | 19th-century prolific American writer | ||
| Elsa Kagan | |||
| Elsie Jeanette Dunkerley | |||
| Em Kol Chai | |||
| Emanuel Morgan | Co-author of Spectra: A Book of Poetic Experiments | ||
| Emil Sinclair | Demian was originally published under this pseudonym. | ||
| Émile Ajar | French author; only author to win the Prix Goncourt twice, once under his real name, and once under his pen name | ||
| Emilia Serrano y García | Spanish writer, journalist, feminist, traveler | ||
| Emily Hawthorne | 19th-century American poet, journalist, editor, newspaper founder | ||
| Emily Rodda | Australian children's fantasy author; published crime fiction for adults under her own name; also writes under the alias Mary-Ann Dickinson | ||
| Mary Jane Latsis and Martha Henissart | Economist/lawyer team write humorous banking mysteries with global scope | ||
| Georgina Fitzgerald-Galaher MacMillan | Edwardian era English novelist, poet, short story writer | ||
| Enna Duval | |||
| Eric Iverson | |||
| Erich Paul Remark | |||
| Kate Cary, Cherith Baldry, and Victoria Holmes | Authors of the fantasy novel series Warriors | ||
| Erle Douglas | American educator, suffragist, journalist | ||
| Eulalie | 19th-century American poet, short story writer | ||
| Euphrosyne | |||
| Eva | 19th-century Danish writer | ||
| Eva G. | American newspaper editor | ||
| Fan-Fan | 19th-century American author | ||
| Clara Fanny Olivier | French journalist, writer | ||
| Cecilia Böhl de Faber | Spanish author | ||
| Fidelitas | 19th-century British writer, journalist, translator | ||
| Filia Ecclesia | British-born American educator, author | ||
| Flann O'Brien | |||
| Florio | American author, poet, journalist, lecturer, social activist, clubwoman | ||
| Floyd Bentley | American poet, author | ||
| Ford Hermann Hueffer | Early 20th-century English novelist and poet | ||
| Frances McNeil | |||
| Francis Bennett | |||
| Frank Dashmore | 19th-century American author, poet | ||
| 20th-century Canadian writer was the first of a variety of different authors to use this pen name for The Hardy Boys novels | |||
| Françoise Quoirez |
| Pen name | Real name | class=unsortable | Details |
|---|---|---|---|
| Marie-Paule Alice Courbe | 19th-century French writer, sculptor, feminist | ||
| Lucila Godoy Alcayaga | Chilean poet, educator, diplomat, and feminist who was the first Latin American to win the Nobel Prize for Literature, in 1945 | ||
| Gabrielle Élise Victoire Logerot | French novelist, essayist | ||
| Gale Forest | American writer, social reformer | ||
| Garth Godfrey | American journalist, author, poet, newspaper founder and publisher, evangelist, social reformer | ||
| Geoffrey Crayon | Used when publishing The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. | ||
| Mary Ann Evans | 19th-century English novelist | ||
| George Groth | Criticized Gardner's The Whys of a Philosophical Scrivener | ||
| Eric Arthur Blair | 20th-century British author and essayist | ||
| Amandine Lucie Aurore Dupin | 19th-century French novelist and early feminist | ||
| Georges Victor Marcel Moinaux | |||
| Gérard Labrunie | 19th-century French poet, essayist and translator | ||
| Gerald Wiley | |||
| Author of the Geronimo Stilton series; Geronimo Stilton is the title character in the series | |||
| Gertrude Glenn | American "southland" poet, prose writer | ||
| Gertrude St. Orme | American poet | ||
| Grace Goodhouse | American journalist, editor, and author | ||
| Grace Greenwood | American author, poet, correspondent, lecturer, newspaper founder | ||
| Grace Shirley | American novelist, poet, lecturer, editor | ||
| Graham R. Tomson | British poet and critic | ||
| Rob Grant and Doug Naylor | Late 20th-century creators of the science fiction-sitcom, Red Dwarf | ||
| Wilhelm Albert Włodzimierz Apolinary Kostrowicki | 20th-century French poet, writer, and art critic | ||
| Sampooran Singh Kalra | Noted Indian poet, lyricist, director, and playwright, who works primarily in Hindi and Urdu languages | ||
| John Charles Austin and Richard Campion Austin | Father and son team who wrote a series of books about British exploits in World War II | ||
| Guy Cullingford | 20th-century British mystery author and screenwriter | ||
| Hilda Doolittle | 20th-century American imagist poet, novelist and memoirist | ||
| H.E. Sayeh | 20th-century Iranian poet (هوشنگ ابتهاج) | ||
| H. E. P. | 19th-century American author | ||
| H. M. M. | 20th-century Canadian author | ||
| H. Maery or Helen Maery | 19th- and 20th-century American nun, author, poet, and composer | ||
| H. N. Turtletaub | |||
| H. S. | 19th-century German-born Canadian-American social reformer, writer, organizer, lecturer in the German Spanish, English languages | ||
| H. T. C. | American journalist, poet | ||
| Hagar | American writer; California pioneer | ||
| various | Pen name of Sunrise animation staff members | ||
| Rudolf Wilhelm Friedrich Ditzen | German writer | ||
| Hard Pan | |||
| Harold Rubin | |||
| Hans van der Kallen | |||
| Berthe Abraham | French writer | ||
| Henri Gordon | 19th-century British soprano and romance novelist | ||
| Fajcsák Henrietta | |||
| Margarete Rosenberg | |||
| Henry Chalgrain | French woman of letters who wrote literary articles and poetry | ||
| Ethel Florence Lindesay Richardson | Early 20th-century Australian author | ||
| Henry Wade | British mystery writer (1887-1969) | ||
| Herbert Lawrence Block | 20th-century political cartoonist | ||
| Georges Remi | 20th-century Belgian cartoonist and creator of The Adventures of Tintin | ||
| Hero Strong | 19th-century American dime-novelist | ||
| Frederick John Fargus | |||
| Humphrey Ploughjogger | 2nd US president and Founding Father (1735-1826) | ||
| C M Grieve | Scottish Renaissance poet | ||
| I. McC. Wilson | American poet | ||
| Rev John Watson | Scottish author and theologian | ||
| Ianthe | 19th-century American author, poet | ||
| various | Pen name has traditionally been adopted by dissident authors throughout the history of Islam, including a current writer from India | ||
| Robert Beck | African American writer | ||
| Ida Fairfield | 19th-century American writer | ||
| Ida Glenwood | 19th-century blind American poet, author | ||
| Ide Delmar | 19th-century American writer | ||
| Petri Pykälä | 20th- and 21st-century Finnish writer | ||
| Ilya Arnoldovich Faynzilberg | Soviet journalist and writer of Jewish origin | ||
| Inez | 19th-century American poet | ||
| Dan Barbilian | 20th-century Romanian poet and mathematician | ||
| Iota | 19th-century British Psalmist, hymnwriter, translator | ||
| Irmari Rantamala | 20th-century Finnish author | ||
| Irwin Shamforoff | |||
| Isak Dinesen | 20th-century Danish author of Out of Africa and Babette's Feast | ||
| Isola | Guernsey writer | ||
| Aron Ettore Schmitz | |||
| Rhonda Eva Harris | Author, spiritual teacher, and television personality | ||
| J. D. Robb | |||
| Julia Eliza McConaughy | 19th-century American litterateur and author of religious literature | ||
| J. F. O'Donnell | 19th-century American writer | ||
| J. I. Vatanen | 20th-century Finnish author | ||
| J. K. Mayo | Scottish author of spy thrillers | ||
| Joanne Rowling | British author of the Harry Potter books | ||
| J. T. | British hymnwriter, poet | ||
| Jacob Kurtzberg | Comic book pioneer | ||
| unknown | Victorian serial killer, author of Dear Boss letter and From Hell letter | ||
| James Dillinger | |||
| James Alfred Wight | 20th-century British writer | ||
| Authors of science fiction series The Expanse | |||
| Alice Bradley Sheldon | 20th-century science fiction author[5] | ||
| Jane Somers | The Diaries of Jane Somers: The Diary of a Good Neighbor and If The Old Could | ||
| Janet Grant | American writer | ||
| various | Pen name used by three contemporary artists who changed their names in 2007[6] to the name of the Slovenian right-wing politician | ||
| Jacob Harold Levison | |||
| Jean D'Anin | French journalist, novelist, translator | ||
| Jean Kincaid | American journalist, editor | ||
| Jean de Lutry | French journalist, translator, novelist | ||
| Johann Paul Friedrich Richter | |||
| Jean Plaidy | |||
| Raymundus Joannes de Kremer | |||
| Jehu O'Cataract | Pen name given to the author by fellow Delphian Club members[7] | ||
| Jemyma | American humorist | ||
| Jennie Woodbine | American poet, short story writer, and newspaper editor | ||
| Jennie Crayon | American author, journalist | ||
| Jeremy Bishop | |||
| Louis Cha Leung-yung | 20th-century Chinese-language novelist | ||
| Elizabeth Thoms Clark | Scottish poet and playwright | ||
| Joseph Hillstrom King | |||
| Johann Joachim Sautscheck | |||
| Vihtori Johan Peltonen | |||
| Johannes de silentio | |||
| Johannes Vares Barbarus | |||
| John Beynon | John Wyndham Parkes Lucas Beynon Harris | Post-apocalyptic British science fiction writer | |
| Samuel Youd | |||
| John G. Andrews | American poet, author, musical composer | ||
| John Hill | |||
| John Lange | 20th-century science fiction author | ||
| David John Moore Cornwell | 20th-century British writer | ||
| John O'Cataract | Used to publish Battle of Niagara, a Poem, without Notes; and Goldau, or the Maniac Harper[8] | ||
| John Sedges | Author of "The Townsman" | ||
| John Wyndham Parkes Lucas Beynon Harris | Post-apocalyptic British science fiction writer | ||
| Johny Hunt | American poet | ||
| Jonathan Oldstyle | Author of Letters of Jonathan Oldstyle, Gent. | ||
| Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski | 20th-century Polish-British author | ||
| Joseph Howard | Screenwriting credit for Sister Act; he refused to have his real name associated with it | ||
| Elizabeth MacKintosh | 20th-century British writer, who also used the pseudonym "Gordon Daviot" | ||
| Judith Jorgenson | Late 19th/early 20th-c American educator, newspaper editor, journalist | ||
| Juhani Tervapää | 20th-century Estonian-born Finnish writer | ||
| Julia Pottinger | |||
| Julien Gordon | American novelist | ||
| Justitia | American suffragist, activist, writer | ||
| K. Hardesh | 20th-century American art critic | ||
| Kamba Thorpe | 19th-century American author | ||
| Karl Rene Moore | American novelist and short story writer | ||
| Kate Cleaveland | 19th-century American poet | ||
| Alis A. Rasmussen | 20th/21st-century fantasy author | ||
| Ka-Tsetnik 135633 | |||
| Kennilworthy Whisp | Joanne Rowling (J. K. Rowling) | Used for the publication of Quidditch Through the Ages, from the Harry Potter universe | |
| Igor Vsevolodovich Mozheiko (Игорь Всеволодович Можейко) | 20th-century Russian science fiction writer and historian | ||
| Nikolay Vasilyevich Korneychukov | |||
| Aleksey Konstantinovich Tolstoy, Aleksey Zhemchuzhnikov, and two others | Collective name who published in Sovremennik during 1836–1866 | ||
| disputed | Author of Ali and Nino, a novel originally published in 1937 | ||
| L. | 19th-century American writer; newspaper editor/proprietor | ||
| L. H. S. | 19th-century American feminist, educator, traveler, writer, philanthropist | ||
| L. M. N. | 19th-century French-born American hymnwriter and writer | ||
| Laong Laan | |||
| Laura | prolific 19th-century Spanish writer of novels, poems, and non-fiction; newspaper editor | ||
| Lauren Kelly | Author of Blood Mask, The Stolen Heart, and Take Me, Take Me With You | ||
| Lazlo Toth | Author of the satiric The Lazlo Letters and other books; the name was taken from that of a deranged Hungarian-born Australian man named Laszlo Toth who vandalized Michelangelo's statue Pieta in Rome | ||
| Leigh Nichols | |||
| Author of A Series of Unfortunate Events | |||
| Lena | 19th-century American poet, preacher, suffragist, social reformer | ||
| Lenora | 19th-century American poet, author, editor | ||
| Leoline | American poet, teacher | ||
| Leslie Charles Bowyer-Yin | Half-Chinese, half-English author of primarily mystery fiction such as the Simon Templar series | ||
| Leonard Knapp | American science fiction author and editor | ||
| Lewis Allan | |||
| Charles Lutwidge Dodgson | 19th-century British author, mathematician, Anglican clergyman, logician, and amateur photographer, author of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland | ||
| American husband and wife science fiction authors | |||
| James Leslie Mitchell | 20th-century Scottish novelist | ||
| Lewtrah | 19th-century American writer | ||
| Liisan-Antti ja Jussi Porilainen | 20th-century Finnish author | ||
| Lisa Ben | 20th-century American author | ||
| L'Inconnue | 19th-century American author | ||
| Lizzie M. Boynton | 19th-century American author, lecturer, reformer philanthropist | ||
| Cyril Henry Hoskin | The author of The Third Eye, supposedly authentic autobiography of a monk born in Tibet, who was unmasked as a British plumber that decided in 1958 to write the bestseller | ||
| Emmanuele Conegliano | |||
| Louis-Ferdinand Destouches | |||
| Louis Hammond Willis | American writer, lecturer, artist | ||
| Zhou Shuren | 20th-century Chinese writer and cultural critic | ||
| Lucas Parkes | John Wyndham Parkes Lucas Beynon Harris | Post-apocalyptic British science fiction writer | |
| Lucile | American author, editor, women's religious activist | ||
| Lucrece | American author | ||
| Luisa Kapp-Young | Austrian soprano, musical educator, essayist | ||
| Lydia Emilie Florentine Jannsen | |||
| Pen name | Real name | class=unsortable | Details |
|---|---|---|---|
| M. C. G. | 19th-century American writer, activist, hymn writer, evangelist, missionary | ||
| Martha Elizabeth Cram Bates | American writer, journalist, newspaper editor | ||
| M. E. W. | American poet and short story writer | ||
| M. R. M. | 19th-century American poet | ||
| M. S. Pine | 19th- and 20th-century nun, playwright, poet, author, and English teacher. | ||
| Martha Wintermute | American author, poet | ||
| Jozua Marius Willem van der Poorten Schwartz | |||
| Mabel Percy | 19th-century American writer | ||
| Mabelle | 19th-century American writer, philanthropist, social reformer | ||
| George Ouzounian | American author known for his website The Best Page in the Universe | ||
| Madhur Piya | Indian classical vocalist, composer | ||
| MacKenzie Van Engelenhoven | American young adult fantasy author | ||
| Madeleine Brent | |||
| Maiju Lassila | 20th-century Finnish author | ||
| Jonas Mačiulis | |||
| Shen Dehong | 20th-century Chinese novelist, cultural critic, and journalist | ||
| Marc Hélys | French journalist, novelist, translator | ||
| Margaret Allston | American writer, editor | ||
| Margaret Frances | Irish-born American author, librarian | ||
| Margaret Vandegrift | American poet and children's book writer | ||
| Margaret Wynman | English author, editor | ||
| Martha Mary Viktoria Ernsperger Bates | American author | ||
| Marguerite | 19th-century Scottish essayist, journalist, poet | ||
| Annie Douglas Green Robinson | American poet and short story writer | ||
| Marie Norman | American author, translator | ||
| Marion Howard | American journalist, author | ||
| Nikolai von Michalewsky | |||
| Samuel Langhorne Clemens | 19th-century American humorist, author, and lecturer | ||
| Marka Wohl | Canadian playwright, author, journalist, poet | ||
| Martha Careful | |||
| Marton Taiga | 20th-century Finnish pulp writer, who also used several other pseudonym | ||
| Mary Doyle | American author, explorer | ||
| Mary Hartwell | 19th-century American writer | ||
| Mary A. Holmes | 19th-century American author, hymnwriter | ||
| Mary Markwell | Canadian playwright, author, journalist, poet | ||
| Mary Westmacott | 20th-century British writer who wrote some of her works under this pseudonym | ||
| Matthew Bramble | Scottish clergyman, poet and playwright | ||
| Mattie May | American poet, musician | ||
| Max Halstock | 20th-century British writer | ||
| Johann Kaspar Schmidt | 19th-century German philosopher | ||
| Author of The Shadow pulp novellas | |||
| Marguerite Annie Johnson | African American poet, memoirist, and civil rights activist | ||
| Meg | American writer, journalist | ||
| Mencius Moldbug | 21st-century political theorist | ||
| Mercedes | Editor-in-chief of The Pilot | ||
| Mercurius Oxoniensis | Historian, Master of Peterhouse, Cambridge, and author of the pseudonymous Letters of Mercurius Oxoniensis to his 'brother' Londiniensis which appeared in the Spectator Magazine 1970–71 and later in book form | ||
| Dikran Kuyumjian | |||
| Michael Innes | |||
| Michael Serafian | |||
| Migjeni | 20th-century Albanian poet | ||
| Miles Standish | American writer | ||
| Minnie C. Ballard | 19th-century American poet, hymnwriter | ||
| Julia Amanda Sargent Wood | 19th-century American author | ||
| Theresa Dyer | 19th-century American author | ||
| Miranda | French writer of sentimental novels and short stories | ||
| Miss Manners | Author, columnist, and etiquette authority | ||
| Mizpah | 19th-century American traveler and journalist | ||
| Moina | 19th-century American poet, miscellaneous writer | ||
| Jean Baptiste Poquelin | 17th-century French theatre writer, director and actor, and writer of comic satire | ||
| Mollie Myrtle | American journalist, author, poet, newspaper founder and publisher, evangelist, social reformer | ||
| Mother Goose | 19th-century American novelist, journalist | ||
| Motte Hall | 19th-century prolific American writer | ||
| Richard Sylvan Selzer | Fashion critic, journalist, creator of annual "Ten Worst Dressed Women List". Also used the alias "Richard Blackwell". | ||
| Ann Morrison Moore | American writer, editor, activist, philanthropist | ||
| Mittie Frances Clarke Point | American dime-novelist | ||
| Mrs. Alfred Barnard | 19th-century English writer, poet, playwright | ||
| Mrs. B. C. Rude | American poet, author, temperance reformer | ||
| Mrs. Benjamin H. Craig | American novelist and short story writer | ||
| Mrs. Chapman Coleman | 19th-century American author, translator | ||
| Mrs. Clarissa Packard | 19th-century American author | ||
| Mrs. E. Burke Collins | 19th-century American dime novelist | ||
| Anna Braden | American poet, author, editor | ||
| Mrs. Francis Rye | British-born Canadian writer, social reformer | ||
| Mrs. George Archibald | American author, editor | ||
| Mrs. George W. Coleman | American missionary society leader; periodical literature writer | ||
| Mrs. H | American civil war nurse, author, organizational founder | ||
| Mrs. H. E. G. Arey | 19th-century American educator, author, editor, publisher | ||
| Mrs. J. C. Bateham | American editor, writer | ||
| Mrs. J. T. Gracey | American writer, missionary | ||
| Mrs. James Gray | British poet, writer of musical scores | ||
| Mrs. Madeline Leslie | 19th-century American novelist, religious writer | ||
| Mrs. Manners | 19th-century American writer | ||
| Mrs. Nathaniel Conklin | 19th-century American author and social activist | ||
| Mrs. S. L. Baldwin | American missionary, teacher, translator, writer, editor | ||
| Mrs. Thaddeus Horton | American writer, editor | ||
| Mrs. Wilbur F. Crafts | American writer, educator, social reformer | ||
| Mrs. William Maude | British novelist, writer | ||
| Mrs. William Starr Dana | 19th-century American nature writer | ||
| Eduard Douwes Dekker | Dutch writer known for his satirical novel, Max Havelaar (1860) | ||
| William Fitzgerald Jenkins | 20th-century science fiction author | ||
| N. W. Clerk | Used when publishing A Grief Observed | ||
| Nancy Boyd | |||
| Natsume Kinnosuke | Early 20th-century Japanese novelist | ||
| Nellie A. Mann | 19th-century American poet, litterateur | ||
| Neville Norway | British novelist | ||
| Joanne Rowling (J. K. Rowling) | Used for the publication of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, from the Harry Potter universe | ||
| Nicci Gerard and Sean French | British crime fiction team | ||
| Nicolas Blake | Poet Laureate of the U.K., 20 mysteries written as Nicolas Blake | ||
| various | A group of mainly French 20th-century mathematicians | ||
| Nimrod | 19th-century author of The Chase, The Road, and The Turf (on foxhunting, coaching and racing respectively) | ||
| Nina Gray Clarke | 19th-century American author, correspondent, poet | ||
| Nino Culotta | Australian writer | ||
| Nisa | Italian lyricist | ||
| Norman Stuart | Guernsey writer | ||
| Georg Philipp Friedrich Freiherr von Hardenberg | |||
| William Sydney Porter | American author of short stories and novels | ||
| Octavia Hensel | 19th-century American musician, author, elocutionist, critic | ||
| Ogdred Weary | |||
| Olive Thorne | American author, naturalist, ornithologist | ||
| Olivie Blake | Alexene Farol Follmuth | American author | |
| Onoto Watanna | Canadian author | ||
| Marie Louise de la Ramée | 19th-century English novelist | ||
| Owen West | |||
| P. Albane | 19th-century French novelist | ||
| Helen Goff | Writer of the Mary Poppins series | ||
| P. Mustapää | 20th-century Finnish poet | ||
| Ricardo Eliecer Neftalí Reyes Basoalto | 20th-century Chilean poet, Nobel laureate | ||
| Harry Hart Frank | 20th-century author of the apocalyptic novel Alas, Babylon | ||
| Winifred Emma May | 20th-century English poet | ||
| Paul Annixter | |||
| Paul Antschel | |||
| Eugène Grindel | 20th-century French Dada and Surrealist poet | ||
| Paul French | U.S. science fiction author, when publishing the Lucky Starr series of novels | ||
| Paul Veronique | 19th-century American writer, founder of the Buffalo School of Elocution | ||
| Pauline Periwinkle | American journalist, poet, teacher, feminist | ||
| Pauline Réage | 20th-century French author and critic who wrote Story of O | ||
| Peg Woffington | British-born Canadian/American author, journalist | ||
| Percy Larkin | American writer, magazine editor | ||
| Mario Armando Lavandeira Jr. | Celebrity blogger and gossip columnist | ||
| Peter Gast | |||
| Peter MacAlan | 20th-century British novelist | ||
| Peter Tremayne | 20th-century British novelist | ||
| Philip Arnold Heseltine | 20th-century British composer | ||
| Petresia Peters | American author | ||
| Pierre Culliford | 20th-century creator of The Smurfs comics | ||
| Philemon | Dutch author, a pioneer of the Dutch women's movement | ||
| Phillip Goldstein | |||
| Pierre Delecto | American politician and businessman, when using a secret Twitter account in 2019 | ||
| Louis Marie Julien Viaud | |||
| Pierre Rossi | French writer, laureate of the 1969 Grand prix du roman de l'Académie française | ||
| Piers Anthony Dillingham Jacob | |||
| Pisanus Fraxi | 19th-century book collector, writer, bibliographer, and author of a three-volume bibliography of erotic literature | ||
| Pittacus Lore | James Frey, Jobie Hughes, and Greg Boose | Authors of the Lorien Legacies series; Pittacus Lore is also a character in the series | |
| Plaridel | Filipino writer, lawyer, journalist, freemason, and propagandist | ||
| Polly | American actor, playwright, teacher | ||
| Polly Baker | |||
| Dhanpat Rai Srivastav | Indian author, notable for his modern Hindustani literature | ||
| Probus | 19th-century American art lecturer, art educator, writer | ||
| Publius | Writers of The Federalist Papers | ||
| Publius Decius Mus | 21st-century American conservative | ||
| Professor X | unknown | 21st-century author of In the Basement of the Ivory Tower | |
| Raphael Simon | Author of The Secret Series, fictional children's books | ||
| Q | Late 19th- and early 20th-century British author, poet, and literary critic | ||
| American mystery authors | |||
| Raccoona Sheldon | Alice Bradley Sheldon (James Tiptree Jr.) | 20th-century science fiction author | |
| Rachel Bach | American science fiction author | ||
| Rafael Luna | Spanish novelist, dramatist, literary critic, and journalist | ||
| Refugitta | American writer | ||
| Regina Frohberg | German novelist and short-story writer | ||
| Muhammad Rehmatullah Qureshi | Author and Muslim scholar | ||
| Renada-Laura Calmon-Ouillet | French Northern Catalonia writer and linguist | ||
| Renee M. Charles | American novelist and short story writer | ||
| Rhys Bowen | British mystery writer | ||
| Contemporary American horror author | |||
| Richard Hackstaff | American novelist, poet, lecturer, editor | ||
| Richard Leander | |||
| Richard Paige | |||
| Richard Saunders | The "Poor Richard" of Poor Richard's Almanack | ||
| Richard Stark | Westlake used many other pen names as well | ||
| Robert Beauchamp | French journalist, translator, novelist | ||
| Robert Galbraith | Joanne Rowling (J. K. Rowling) | Used for the publication of The Cuckoo's Calling | |
| Robert Garioch Sutherland | 20th-century Scots poet | ||
| James Oliver Rigney Jr. | Author of the bestselling The Wheel of Time fantasy series | ||
| Robert Croker | |||
| Robert O. Saber | Mid-20th-century journalist, author and detective novelist (Dressed to Kill (1954) and many others) | ||
| Robin A Hood | |||
| Margaret Astrid Lindholm Ogden | 20th-century fantasy author; also published under the pen name Megan Lindholm | ||
| Robin Red | American author, including negro dialect and pathetic sketches | ||
| Roger Fairbairn | |||
| Romain Kacew | |||
| Rosamond Smith | Novels include Nemesis, Lives of the Twins, Soul Mate, Starr Bright Will Be With You Soon, The Barrens, Snake Eyes, You Can't Catch Me, Kindred Passions, and Double Delight | ||
| eluki bes shahar | American writer and editor of science fiction and fantasy | ||
| Ross Franklyn | Left-wing Australian writer best known for his novel Power Without Glory | ||
| Rushworth Armytage | British poet and critic | ||
| Fannie Ogden Ide | American children's book author | ||
| Pen name | Real name | class=unsortable | Details |
|---|---|---|---|
| Willard Huntington Wright | Art critic and author of Philo Vance mysteries | ||
| Susan Eloise Hinton | |||
| Alexis Saint-Léger Léger | |||
| Hector Hugh Munro | Early 20th-century British satirist | ||
| Sallie M. Bryan | 19th-century American poet | ||
| Salomėja Bučinskaitė-Bučienė | |||
| Salonina | Early 19th-century American linguist, poet, translator | ||
| Samantha Chase | 20th-century American romance novelists | ||
| Samantha Spriggins | 19th-century American litterateur and poet | ||
| Sannois | |||
| Sans Souci | 19th-century American "southland" author | ||
| Sapper | |||
| Ramona Lofton | 21st-century African-American poet and author | ||
| Sadie Sensible | also "Julia", "Minnie May," "Frank Fisher," "Minister's Wife", "Rev. Peter Benson's Daughter"; American educator, poet | ||
| Saturn | American writer, newspaper editor, musical composer | ||
| Shahriar | Iranian poet, writing in Persian and Azerbaijani | ||
| Selene | American author, genealogist, clubwoman | ||
| Shawn Haigins | Indian writer of historical fiction thrillers including The Rozabal Line and Chanakya's Chant (Shawn Haigins is an anagram of Ashwin Sanghi) | ||
| Sidney Schechtel | Novelist and television producer; created I Dream of Jeannie television series | ||
| Used this pen name to get his work published | |||
| Margaret Elizabeth Noble | |||
| Sigurjón Birgir Sigurðsson | Icelandic novelist, poet, lyricist | ||
| Somebody, M.D.C. &c. &c. &c. | Keep Cool was published under this pseudonym. "M.D.C." stands for "Member of the Delphian Club"[9] | ||
| Ksenia Mykytivna Vasilenko | Ukrainian journalist, editor-in-chief | ||
| Gregory Gallant | 20th-century Canadian cartoonist | ||
| Stanley Martin Lieber | Comic book pioneer | ||
| Stanley Norris | American novelist, poet, lecturer, editor | ||
| Arthur Hoey Davis | |||
| Stein Riverton | Born as Kristoffer Elvestad Svendsen | ||
| Stella | 19th-century American writer | ||
| Marie-Henri Beyle | 19th-century French writer | ||
| Stephen Bury | |||
| Student | Discoverer of Student's t-distribution in statistics | ||
| Sue Denim | Writer and illustrator of the Captain Underpants children's book series, when author of the Dumb Bunnies books (Sue Denim is a play on the word pseudonym) | ||
| Sue Smith | 19th-century American abolitionist, reformer, suffragist, writers (also used men's names as pseudonyms) | ||
| S. Rangarajan | 20th-century Indian writer, engineer/scientist | ||
| Edith Maude Eaton | |||
| Philip Athans and Bruce Cordell | Collective pseudonym used by nine separate authors writing Wizards of the Coast's Dungeons & Dragons novels | ||
| T. Kingfisher | |||
| Jim Burke | |||
| Ted L. Nancy | Authors of the Letters from a Nut series | ||
| Temple Oliver | American poet and romanticist | ||
| Tess Marlowe | 20th-century American romance novelists | ||
| Theodosia | English hymnwriter, essayist | ||
| Jehan Tabourot | |||
| Tiger Lily | American suffragist, reformer, writer | ||
| Timothy Shy | 20th-century British poet and author, collaborated with Ronald Searle on The Terror of St Trinian's | ||
| Noriaki Kubo | Manga artist of Bleach | ||
| Dan Perkins | 20th-century editorial cartoonist | ||
| Toofie Lauder | 19th-century Canadian teacher, linguist, author | ||
| Tony Karayianni and Lori Schlachter Karayianni | American husband and wife romance novelists | ||
| Trebor Ohl | 19th-century American poet, author | ||
| Rodney William Whitaker | 20th-century American spy novelist | ||
| Sami Rosenstock | |||
| unknown | Manga writer, author of Death Note and Bakuman | ||
| Ion N. Theodorescu | 20th-century Romanian poet and children's author | ||
| Agostinho André Mendes de Carvalho | |||
| Umberto Poli | |||
| Uriah Fuller | Wrote Confessions of a Psychic | ||
| Väinö Stenberg | 20th-century Finnish author | ||
| Luka Razikashvili | |||
| Vera Haij | Author of the picture book Sara och Pelle och näckens bläckfiskar | ||
| Véra Tsaritsyn | Journalist, author, playwright, and editor | ||
| Vercors | |||
| Vernon Sullivan | |||
| Víctor Català | Author of Solitud (Solitude) (1905) | ||
| Victoria Lucas | Poet and author of The Bell Jar | ||
| Vladimir Sirin | 20th-century novelist; used this name on early works | ||
| Viola | 19th-century American author, poet | ||
| Viola | 19th-century American poet, teacher | ||
| François-Marie Arouet | 18th-century French Enlightenment writer, deist and philosopher | ||
| Walter Ericson | American novelist | ||
| W. A. C. Q. | 19th-century American poet, novelist, hymnist, diarist | ||
| Bruce Frederick Cummings | 20th-century diarist | ||
| Walter | 19th-century book collector, writer, bibliographer, and suspected author of My Secret Life, the sexual memoirs of a Victorian era gentleman | ||
| Wang Shiwei (王實味) | Wang Sidao (王思禱) | 20th-century Chinese journalist and literary writer | |
| William Lee | American novelist, short story writer, essayist and spoken word performer | ||
| William Penn | 19th-century activist against Indian removal | ||
| Georg Wilhelm Heinrich Haring | |||
| Willice Wharton | British-born Canadian/American author, journalist | ||
| Winnie Woodbine | 19th-century American author | ||
| Winnie Rover | 19th-century American Catholic nun and writer | ||
| Heywood Allen (born Allan Stewart Konigsberg) | American film director, writer, actor, and comedian | ||
| Y. L. E. | 19th-century American teacher, hymnwriter | ||
| Yevgeniy Petrovich Kataev | |||
| Susan Rowley Richmond Lee | Scottish writer, novelist | ||
| Kimitake Hiraoka | 20th-century Japanese novelist, essayist, and playwright | ||
| Yukon Bill | Canadian playwright, author, journalist, poet | ||
| Zeleta | American poet, philanthropist | ||
| Zena Clifton | American poet | ||
| Zig | American journalist, lecturer, feminist | ||