Choosing a pen name

amother

Floralwhite

Tue, Mar 12 2019, 6:59 pm

Looking for inspiration on how to name myself, lol. If you used a pen name, how did you decide which name to pick? I didn't expect this to be so hard. Nerd

amother

Indigo

Tue, Mar 12 2019, 7:19 pm

I know a magazine writer who used a synonym for her last name, e.g. Kleinman/small

I know a magazine writer who used a grandmother's name

...

amother

Lime

Tue, Mar 12 2019, 7:22 pm

First name: a name I have always loved
Last name: a cute name I like starting with the letter _ because a few of my favorite authors’ last names start with _ and I wanna sit near them on the shelf Smile

amother

Indigo

Tue, Mar 12 2019, 7:23 pm

You can choose a name similar to your first, like Nechama, Menucha
Use your middle name
A name that alludes to writing, Schreiber, Reiter
A name that you like
Make up a last name for yourself based on your first, like Estrowitz for Esther. (There's a magazine writer whom I suspect did that, only she just misspelled her first name and undercut as a last name.)

seeker

Tue, Mar 12 2019, 8:38 pm

The only time I used a pen name, it was about a personal journey and I used a name that had meaning relevant to the story. I would probably just use the same one in the future if needed.

amother

Blonde

Tue, Mar 12 2019, 9:01 pm

I used names of my kids for first/middle name (Didnt have too many when I started the 'brand'). Last name just popped into my head.
Would love it if the other authors here gave away their pen name. Who wants to start?

amother

Floralwhite

Tue, Mar 12 2019, 9:34 pm

I'm mostly stuck on picking a last name. It seems like there are so few Jewish names (first and last) and every combination will already be taken. I want it to be easy to spell and memorable enough, but not the same name as 1500 other people.

Writergirl

Tue, Mar 12 2019, 10:08 pm

Choosing a pen name is hard! I agree with you on that.

I've used many different pen names for various reasons. Each one had some kind of meaning - a name that has a similiar meaning to my name, a name that reflected what I was trying to do with my writing...etc.

Good Luck!

amother

Indigo

Tue, Mar 12 2019, 10:28 pm

amother wrote:

If you're a good writer, you don't need a memorable name. As far as I know:
Leah Gebber,
Dov Haller
Chai m Eliav
B. Myndi
Rachel Pomerantz
Are all made up names, and I'm sure there are many more pseudonyms that I just don't know are pseudonyms...
Sometimes you see a name and you just know it's a pseudonym, but there's no name recognition because they write infrequently.

What I noticed about this list is that all those pseudonyms have few syllables.

I'm sure there are others with more syllables... Smile

Maybe we should make a list of all the popular frum writer pseudonyms(without saying who they are). Smile

amother

Mustard

Mon, Jun 03 2019, 12:52 pm

I chose Rebecca as its the non-jewish version of my name and Beck bc it's short and sweet Very Happy

Then I have another one called Yael Rose bc I LOVE the name Yael and Rose went well with it Wink

tigerwife

Mon, Jun 03 2019, 12:56 pm

When I was single, I used my first name (relatively common) and a contraction of my middle and last names. I wouldn’t have minded using my full name but since it is uncommon, I used a pen name so that my family wouldn’t get comments. Lol.

My new last name is pretty long, so if I ever get published again, I may shorten it to something easier.

amother

Lemon

Mon, Jun 03 2019, 12:57 pm

I haven't written much but I don't plan on sticking to a single pen name. I'd like to have one or two primary names with additional names depending on the content. My current primary pen name is a name that's related to one of my names as a first name with a twist on a hobby of mine as my last name. I might use the same approach for additional names since there's many ways to spin it.

Ruchel

Mon, Jun 03 2019, 4:18 pm

My mother took her first name in English, then initials like American middle name, with her married name, maiden name, and then full name her mother's maiden name.

Rappel

Mon, Jun 03 2019, 4:56 pm

What fun!

I picked my nom de plume back in middle school. I've never yet published using it, but it is so completely part of my literary identity that I know that that's the only pen name I can ever use.

amother

Royalblue

Mon, Jun 03 2019, 5:10 pm

I have a few pen names depending on what I'm writing. In one the first name is a nickname of my middle name and the last is a contraction of my maiden and married names. Another is the Hebrew version of my Yiddish first name (like Zehava for Golda) and the last is my mother's maiden name. People who know me definitely could figure it out easily.

I also use a name that's not connected to me at all (I just like it) when I write anything that might prove too personal.