Definition:
A fictitious name assumed by an individual to conceal his or her identity; a pen name. Adjective: pseudonymous. See also: Allonym.
Etymology:
From the Greek, "false" + "name"Examples and Observations
- "'Alan Smithee' is probably the most famous pseudonym, invented by the Directors Guild for directors who are so unsatisfied with a studio or producer's meddling with their film that they don't think it reflects their creative vision anymore. The first movie to use it was Death of a Gunfighter in 1969, and it has since been used dozens of times."
(Gabriel Snyder, "What's in a Name?" Slate, Jan. 2, 2007) - "Imprisoned for political offenses under Louis XV, Francois Marie Arouet changed his name to Voltaire in order to make a fresh start as a writer. The Rev. C. L. Dodgson used the pseudonym Lewis Carroll because he thought it beneath the dignity of a clergyman and a mathematician to write a book like Alice in Wonderland. Mary Ann Evans (George Eliot) and Lucile-Aurore Dupin (George Sand) used men's names because they felt women authors were discriminated against in the 19th century."
("Fool-the-Squares," Time, Dec. 15, 1967) - "The cases of 'cyberbullying' which have led to actual suicides seem tightly connected to real communities, even when some of the bullies were anonymous or pseudonymous."
(Andrew Brown, "Social Media, God and Suicide," The Guardian, Aug. 2009) - "The hyper-fecund Stephen King wrote as Richard Bachman . . . (until he killed Bachman off, citing "cancer of the pseudo-nym" as the cause of death). Ian Rankin found himself in a similar spot in the early 1990s, when he was bursting with ideas, but with a publisher wary of putting out more than one book a year. Along came Jack Harvey--named for Jack, Rankin's first son, and Harvey, his wife's maiden name."
(Jonathan Freedland, "What's in a Pseudonym?" The Guardian, Mar. 29, 2006)
Pronunciation: SOOD-eh-nim
