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What's the inspiration of your 'pen' name?

Posted by meghamathur • 8/31/07 • Subscribe to this Discussion [RSS] • Report This Topic
Topics: pen name

I frequently come across writers & bloggers who use a 'pen name' for their publications.
Do you use a pen name??
If yes, please share with us,the inspiration that made you choose it for you.

User Comments

8/31/07

gmoney

gmoney... just thought it was cute, I use to use luvbug when I was way young and thought I was hot stuff

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8/31/07

tetsujin

I use tetsujin. It means Iron Man or Wise Man depending on the connotation in Japanese. So I like it ^_^

And the actual inspiration came from the Matrix: Reloaded/Revolutions soundtrack.

Cameron

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8/31/07

GrimlyFiendish

On my blog I go by Quietmind mainly because I don't have a quiet mind. I have been told I ponder things too much.

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8/31/07

taylorblue

Well I was going to become a DJ and my name was going to be just Taylor...but when I started to write...I used Taylor and my favorite color Blue!

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8/31/07

v1ctorya

I have a longish post (most of mine are anyway) about how I chose my name:

victoryachasegoestotherapy.blogspot.com/2007/07/identity-take-ii.html

The gist is - chasing victorya, in life and beyond.

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8/31/07

Lovebabz

No matter what, love would always be used to address me. And I like ending with Love,Babz.

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1. 9/03/07
  
  Norski
  
  Sounds nice.
8/31/07

kingnutin

mine was supposed to be king nothing, got from the Metallica song (which i thought described me the best). But the name was already taken, so I changed it to kingnutin.

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8/31/07

gosmelltheflowers

Well, now theres a story,

GO! Smell the flowers is the title of our pen naem, blog and book we're writing. In Dubai we resigned from the dizzy heights of corporate as we were getting sick of the view. We wanted to see the places wed always wanted to see and took a gamble, a journey into the unknown and time out to ask what its all about.

At Jim's farewell lunch the Regional President said, mid speech and post buffet...

"We'd all love to get out of the rat race - We wish you look on your travels. Enjoy it when you smell the flowers"

At the time these words didnt mean alot to Jim who had previously bitten the heads of flowers rather than smelling them but as time moved on and countries were visited the phrase stayed with the couple as they joked about smelling the flowers.

Emma was adamant that Jim 'smelt the flowers' and they did exactly that and are now writing up their travels whilst back in the Rat Race!

GO! Smell the flowers aims to inform, entertain and enlighten people from all over our increasingly smaller world. Why wait until you're dead and pushing up flowers from the grave? Life is too short and we endeavour to inspire people and help them discover their reason to be and be the best they canor at least think about what they can change in their life for the better..who doesn't want that?

So, here we are now with our story, linking with a huge variety of folks at blogcatalog, some of whom now buy flowers from our site, sending them anywhere in the world.....

Cheers!

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1. 9/03/07
  
  Norski
  
  And pip! pip! - Hope I used the right expression, there.
  
  and gosmelltheflowers is a wonderfully memorable and relevant pen name.
8/31/07

therealshari

I've been "therealshari" since way before Internet days.

When I returned to Oregon after several years in the South, I was shocked to find my name had been taken by a restaurant chain, especially because I was considering opening a restaurant of the same name.

So, I became known as "The Real Shari".

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8/31/07

fishwithoutbicycle

Hi Meghamathur, thanks for the invite to the discussion.

My pen name comes from the Gloria Steinem quote "A woman without a man is like a fish without a bicycle", sort of inspired by all the non New Yorkers who are forever asking me, as a single 30something woman living in Manhattan, "so I bet you must be living the Sex And The City lifestyle then?" Erm...no actually I am not. I cannot tell you how many times I'm asked that question, but it's a myth that all the single women in NYC are dating like Miranda, Carrie et al, in fact I would say there is a near epidemic of not dating among the women in NYC as there are a TON of single females here. According to one study there are an estimated 185,000 more single women than men.

The numbers being what they are means dating here is not so easy, but frankly i love NY and wouldn't live anywhere else right now, so while it would be nice to meet someone, I don't want to make it the be all and end all of my existence to try and meet a guy as some women here do. My blog is about living a very full and happy life in NYC without being obsessed by dating and if the right man/bicycle happens to come along then so be it, but if not, so what, I don't want to regret not living my life to the fullest :-)

Fish

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8/31/07

meghamathur

Wow!'fishwithoutbicycle' you indeed have an interesting pen name:) Liked it more after knowing more about it.

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8/31/07

crpitt

somebody keep stealing Claire so i was forced to to use initials and my last name

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8/31/07

Norski

"Norski" is my favorite, since I'm half Norwegian by ancestry.

"Brian of Gaels" is another, since the other half is mostly Irish.

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8/31/07

monkeytale

I use happily anonymous. Mostly due to family considerations. (That was a nice way to infer that my ex is a pain in the @$$.)

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9/03/07

DoubleTake

DoubleTake = worth a second look

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9/03/07

MadameX

I've written under several different names, but they are all (except the one where the contract required anonymity) variations of my name or my maiden name. The only reason I use different names is that the range of what I write is so varied. Just from a reader expectation perspective, I don't want to market my divorce book based on my experience as a divorce attorney under the same name as a romance novel, nor a romance novel under the same name as a more serious literary novel.

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1. 9/03/07
  
  Norski
  
  Good point. I understand that science fiction writer Robert A. Heinlein wrote under pen names at one point, because readers had associated his name with a specific set of 'future history' stories: as a professional writer, he didn't want to dilute that branding when publishing an unrelated story.
9/03/07

frenchkys

Well, I love the French (not exclusively, of course) and I most certainly love the kiss. Hence, my pen name -- which I've been using for about a decade now.

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9/25/07

antibarbie

I chose this pen name because I have always been the opposite of Barbie and never played with that vile little doll as a child. I am a short, zoftig, feisty, brunette, who is NOT bubbly and hates pink (unless it's complimenting black...)

Aside from that, Barbie is a symbol of the beauty ideals the western culture obsesses over. I am sick to death of young girls dying to try and live up to an unattainable stereotype that we pound into their heads from the time they are young.

I hate that as women we are defined by our bodies and not our minds still and it's been years since the feminist movement started. It's obvious we have a lot longer to go...

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1. 9/25/07
  
  meghamathur
  
  That's an interesting story behind a pen name
  Thanks for sharing it in our thread
  meghamathur.blogspot.com/
9/25/07

neoauteur

I chose my pen name because I thought it's cool.

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9/26/07

firerobin

My last name is Feierabend, which is German. Americanized it's pronounced "Fire-rob-end", which is a heck of a lot easier than saying "Fy-eh-ah-bent" (how it's actually pronounced). But most people simply say "Fire-robin". Hence my pen name.

It's a lot better than some of the other variations I've been called like ... "Firebird" ... "Fireballs" ... and "Firenuts".

firerobin
www.firerobin.com

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1. 9/26/07
  
  meghamathur
  
  Wow! that's an amazing story.
  Amazing in the sense,I am very certain no1 here could have guessed your pen name's inspiration correctly had you not taken time to share it with us.
  
  Thanks for sharing it with us
9/26/07

sbpoet

When I started spending time online, I was uneasy about all the 'scary internet' stories, so I used a 'handle' -- not this one -- then I started a blog -- then I wanted my own domain -- and I decided it was time to push against my own self-doubt and declare that I am, indeed, a poet.

So -- sbpoet.

I didn't realize that it would become such a strong 'identity' for me.

I'm glad I chose well.

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9/26/07

ender

i use ender in most online fora because i really identified with the character of ender in orson scott card's Ender's Game.

the blog name and signing name came from ... well ... i'll link to it ... it's a long story:
www.coyotethunder.com/RedMonkey/archives/2006/05/the_story_of_th_1.html

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9/27/07

voodooKobra

I use Kobra because I needed a name that was (at the time) untaken for an RP. Sadly, Mortal Kombat came along and stole it >_

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9/27/07

Sheff

I chose 'yourekillingmyserver.com' because so many people have trouble spelling my name.

Sheff
www.yourekillingmyserver.com/

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9/27/07

sbpoet

So far, fishwithoutbicycle is my fave. Love the avatar, too.

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1. 9/27/07
  
  meghamathur
  
  Mine too
  It's fun and interesting to learn what inspired people to keep unusual pen names.
9/27/07

pollocksthbollocks

Pollocksthebollocks basically came from Pollock being one of my favourite artists, bollocks is UK slang for the greatest or the best. So the pen name is Pollock is the Bollocks meaning Pollock is the best pollocksthebollocks.wordpress.com/

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9/28/07

Synchronicity

syn·chro·nic·i·ty (sĭng’krə-nĭs’ĭ-tē, sĭn’-)
n. pl. syn·chro·nic·i·ties

The state or fact of being synchronous or simultaneous; synchronism.
Coincidence of events that seem to be meaningfully related, conceived in Jungian theory as an explanatory principle on the same order as causality.

Synchronicity is the experience of two or more events which occur in a meaningful manner, but which are casually unrelated. Synchronous events, unlike coincidences, are related to one another conceptually, and happen far more frequently than is allowed by random chance.

I have a post on it here:
tenerife-training.net/Tenerife-News-Cycling-Blog/2007/09/science/what-is-sy...

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1. 9/29/07
  
  meghamathur
  
  Wow! that's an interesting name with an interesting 'behind the name' story
  meghamathur.blogspot.com/
9/28/07

adavait

yes i do use a pen-name 'adavait'.this is used for two reasons one is personal which i would not like to explain at this juncture.
but the other reason why i opted for this particular name is the meaning of this word 'adavait'. this word means something beyond perception,facinating,not within human reach.it is referred to the almighty creator and i for one want to do something so nice in this blogging world.

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1. 9/29/07
  
  Synchronicity
  
  Yeah, I still haven't figured out exactly what it means!!
  I take it to mean a system of inter-dependent chaotic relationships.
  Something like that.