Assigning one’s real name to certain actions in special contexts is not always an evidently easy task. In some cases, the decision to hide one’s name equals changing identities for the benefit of professional or personal life.
Choosing a pseudonym might be the most accessible solution for questions regarding the usage of real names, since in the majority of cases they serve as an effective veil for influential people in need of one.
Pseudonyms are fictitious names that are chosen with a particular purpose, be it either hiding one’s real selfhood or assuming another, with more professional or social potential. These can occur in all kinds of different contexts, their most widespread usages being pen names, superhero or villain identities, gamer and user names or stage names. They are only used in unique circumstances and sometimes merge with a persona well enough for the public not to recognize someone’s original name. In the following, we will look at a few more common occurrences of pseudonyms with the reasons behind them and the potential they hold.
Pen Names and Authorial Identity
One of the more obvious usages of pseudonyms are pen names, chosen by authors based on a variety of intentions. They can offer a safe space for writers against prejudices based either on their personality or in some cases gender or ethnicity, which might cause the negative critical receiving or misunderstandings of any sort aimed at their works. Pen names are also a great method for separating writing career from personal life, for maintaining anonymity, for establishing a strong reputation or can simply show an aspiration for a variety of authorial identities.
Authors that have chosen this path include many that readers might not recognize when they appear under their own real name. For very few might the names Samuel Clemens, Theodor Geisel or Charles Dodgson ring a bell, but who could have not heard of Mark Twain, Dr. Seuss or Lewis Carroll? What is even more interesting is, that the British mathematician Charles Dodgson wrote his scientific articles and let Lewis Carroll tell Alice’s story. Similar choices appear in contemporary literature as well, for example in the case of Robert Galbraith, the writer of detective stories, who happens to be the same person with one of the most influential writers of our childhood, J. K. Rowling, creating the magical world of the Harry Potter series. It seems like for authors, writing is such a personal matter that they feel like they need to change their identities when moving between different writing styles or genres. Agatha Christie sometimes felt like writing under the name Mary Westmacott, and Stephen King tried to avoid people thinking he publishes excessively by choosing another name, that of Richard Bachman. Other examples of pen names taking over original ones include authors like George Orwell (Eric Arthur Blair) and George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) as well. An interesting exception is the one of the Brontё sisters, who decided to trick readers and critics into thinking they are male authors, appearing on the cover of their books as Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell, but everyone today knows them as Charlotte, Emily and Anne Brontё, recognizing their defining role as women writers of the 19th century.
Whether authorial identity should be considered an essential component of meaning in literary works is under constant theoretical discussion, but one thing is sure: authors can use their names to express additional statements about their style or their attitude towards the creation process, as demonstrated by the few examples mentioned above, but the list could go on. Writers definitely have the distinguishing aura of artists that is specific not only in the literary sphere but in other cultural dimensions as well. Furthermore, we will tackle pseudonyms appearing in popular culture, with special attention to Hollywood and the music industry.
Artists at Home and on Stage
Celebrities are exposed to the public eye all the time, and so the name under which they become famous is very important. They need catchy names that sound good, that people can remember, and that are suitable for the persona they are aspiring for in their career. Artists of popular culture like actors, musicians, voice-over artists and other performers use stage names very often, since they help them develop their brand but also protect their privacy which is often challenged by fans and the press. Sometimes artists decide to hide their ethnic background as well, and try to make the public appreciate their effort and work without the influence of other biographical factors. In their case, just as we have seen in the literary sphere, their pseudonyms become inseparable from their public persona and their original names are mostly known but being ignored.
Instances of musicians changing their name because of fame are more common than we would think, and they can either be a short and easy-to-remember form of an artist’s real name or one that is completely new and has no connection with the original one. A few celebrities who have chosen to shorten their own names and alternatively add other elements to them are for example Axl Rose, originally called William Brice Rose Jr. and Rihanna, a.k.a. Robyn Rihanna Fenty, but it is more common for musicians to invent a name suitable for their purpose as artists. Farrokh Bulsara and Peter Gene Hernandez both succeeded in finding themselves a catchy and ethnically neutral stage name as Freddie Mercury and Bruno Mars (incidentally both singers were inspired by planets too). Eminem (Marshall Mathers III) and Sting (Gordon Sumner) have chosen a short and memorable pseudonym, just as two contemporary female singers, Lady Gaga (Stefani Germanotta) and Lana Del Rey (Elizabeth Woolridge Grant) decided to make theirs more iconic.
The case is almost the same when it comes to stage or screen actors, but in the following examples the method of name shortening is predominant. This is the strategy used by Audrey Hepburn (Audrey Kathleen Ruston), Brad Pitt (William Bradley Pitt) and Nicolas Cage (Nicolas Kim Coppola) as well, but we can find instances of completely changing one’s name for professional reasons, this is what Marilyn Monroe (Norma Jeane Mortenson) and Whoopi Goldberg (Caryn Johnson) did.
Artists use pseudonyms consciously, taking into consideration their public persona but also the personalities they want to keep and cherish at home, in their families and their small circle. Popular artists are constantly under a lens and they have to separate their lives as regular people from that of fame and sparkles, this is why stage names are used by them so often. But one does not need to become famous to take on a pseudonym, especially not in the 21st century, when it is almost required for everybody to have one in the online sphere. In the last section of the article, we will take a look at the presence of pseudonyms in the online world.
Online Alter Egos
It is quite difficult to distinguish real people from fake ones online, and this is exactly because of the opportunities the Internet has to offer to anyone trying to hide their identity. The use of names other than somebody’s real one is very innocent most of the times, since this intention serves only as an easier way to navigate online. People use nicknames and gamer names very often, and they might be recognized by these in real life as well. It is for example quite common for someone to be called on their Instagram name in real-life situations, this phenomenon being understandable since people spend enough time in front of screens to associate online activity with common offline interactions and personality. It also happens, however, that people take advantage of this feature of the Internet, getting away with illegal acts under the protection of their pseudonyms. Let’s see how these names can appear online.
First, there are a few sites where the allowance of pseudonymity alludes to possible dangers for users, since these can usually be easily compromised, and valuable data can be lost by them. Confidentiality is key when storing data online and this can be linked to our online activity as well. In the online space, pseudonyms can also be forms of expression, like in the case of social media usernames or gamer names, as long as they don’t serve as a means of hiding one’s true identity completely. Of course we don’t believe that we are playing FIFA with a cartoon character when donald-duck2000 joins the match, but we have to acknowledge that it is way too easy for anybody to create numberless different personas online. People can even make appointments or reservations with a pseudonym to defend their privacy or reputation, but they can be used in other official contexts as well, like Steve Wozniak, the co-founder of Apple Computer did when applying to University. His reasoning was simply: “I knew I wouldn’t have time enough to be an A+ student.”
Therefore, in the online sphere, everyone can feel like they are entitled to choose pseudonyms as if this space was a stage where everyone can develop their own image that they want to showcase to others. Of course this has its benefits and its drawbacks, but this is already another topic. What is relevant is how constructive pseudonyms can be even in such common situations. No matter if someone is a star, a writer or a Facebook user, they can choose their own names either in order to hide themselves or to form and construct personality traits, and convey messages that would otherwise remain hidden.
