Do you use an alias or pen name?

I know musicians who use an alias and they do so because their REAL last name makes their nationality clear and they would rather not imply that they play the music of any particular nationality, but ALL.

My alias is Delores Norrisey. I have never had any reason to use it, but I’ve always thought it sounded kind of cool.

Penny Lane.

I’m just kidding. I don’t use a pen name/alias, although I find them to be pretty interesting. I remember Kate Hudson using Penny Lane in the movie Almost Famous and I really liked that one.

Interesting answers thus far!

However I need to clarify that divulging the pen name is not the question- the question is why you use the pen name or alias

Nobody needs to tell us your alias/ pen name unless you wish to. I am curious why one is used.

@Mr_M I can see great benefit in using an alias in the case you posted and I find it very interesting. Great answer!

@KrystaElyse Almost Famous was one of my all time favorite movies! Great use of an alias in a movie!

@Dog – Mine too! It was a great movie :D

@Dog yeah, I don’t actually use my alias, but it is there if I ever need it. When I publish the Great American Novel I will have to use my real name because I don’t want to have to convince everyone it is actually me!

Sometimes I go by Percy Dovetonsils. and Other times I go by Dianne, because I’m such a pretty girl.

I don’t have one, yet.

If I needed to use one, it would be because I wouldn’t want anyone I know to know it was I that wrote that. Knowing me, it is very unlikely I’ll ever need one. Although, if I did, I might use my name here, because then a few people would know who I was. Some might want to read it, based on the name; others would probably stay as far away as they could.

I created an alias in high school because I really hate my birth name, and have always used it to sign my artwork. Over the years I’ve moved around a bit, and it has remained the name I use when I set up phone service, so it has been a way to have a semi-private phone listing free of charge, and yet all of my close friends can look me up. As a single woman living in major cities the anonymity was also a plus for security reasons.

well….I go by Pat
but my real name is Patrick
I use it to get away from the stress of life.

I used one many years ago when I wrote an article about personal experience with abortion. I lived in a very conservative area, my kids were young and didn’t know anything about it, and I didn’t want them to have to deal with any backlash. Unfortunately, my hometown paper wouldn’t publish it without my real name attached, so I withdrew it from consideration. Now that my children are older, I wouldn’t feel the need to use my pen name again.

By the way, it was Libby Thomas.

According to a dude in my Spanish class, my alias (porno name) is “Ripped body long schlong”

I write some pretty evil crimes, so I use alias so my clients don’t know it is me.

I’ve noticed that the best authors have the best names. (Do you think it is a coincidence that Caspar Weinberger hasn’t published anything worth reading?) so if I ever get an agent and get published, I am changing my last name to something easier to spell and pronounce. My last name has so many vowels that I wonder if my Flemish ancestors spent some time in Hawaii.

I am the Black Mamba.

Sounds like the name of a big, rubber dildo.

My real name will look great on a book. It even has that enviable
Stephen
K I N G
characteristic: a very short last name and a longer first name. When the two names are stacked and spread across the bottom of a book cover, the last name will just naturally be larger. Jacket designers will love me. I wouldn’t waste the opportunity on a made-up name unless I were writing in a genre such as romance.

Now I just need a publisher. But first, an editor. But first, an agent. But first…a manuscript.

@Jeruba I bet you have at least one manuscript tucked away… and you are the editor. So you’re halfway there already!

I have chosen to use a pen name, mainly because I totally hate my real name. It sounds so dumb, were-as my pen name is special to me, and I like the way it sounds.

A pen name, for me, in this time we live, isn’t to conceal your identity, so as not to be burned as a witch, but rather to control copyright, or find a name you have always wanted, but were not blessed with at birth.

Or it’s something from Kill Bill :]

I liked mr_M’s answer, I guess that’s why I changed Mi Hong Chang into “Patrick O’Reilly” when I was singing Irish songs ;)

No, really…my stage name just sort of “happened” and it started as a nickname and it’s also the name my friends use, the name on my doorbell and even the one I sign with at banks. I never really use my “real” name except for official purposes where I have no choice.

I do have a second alias, which is what I came up recently when I was singing a slightly different type of music (and also didn’t want to be found out by certain people). Sort of an incognito stage name.

And I have used a different one when writing (though I’ve never really published anything, so that doesn’t matter). The reason there was again that I did not want people to associate things that had nothing to do with each other.

I go by Tits McGhee :)