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A Pixelated Mind

Carnival of the Godless
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The pen is mightier

As a young man (this was like twenty minutes ago), I remember reading that Mark Twain’s birth name was Samuel Clemens and thinking, “That’s not a real name! I refuse to call anyone by their non-real name! What a travesty! What does Sammy have to be ashamed of?”

Nothing, it turns out. Clemens is a name of tradition and Samuel is a character in a book. One of those names was chosen by his parents and the other by his ancestors. Neither of these names are his own, they’re merely names he has accepted through constant conditioning. That was the name he was forced to live with his entire life. Now, if you’re lucky, your parents will have chosen a name you enjoy and are proud to bear. If you’re not, tough luck.

Even if you choose a name you like later on, people will always ask “what’s your real name?” By that, they simply mean your base name. The name that you’ve held the longest. As if that had any bearing on who you are. What’s Lewis Carroll’s birth name? If he’s famous for his work, what does it matter?
Suppose I’d been born Grigory Shalvovich Chkhartishvili and I wrote a lovely book that I call “Чайка, Комедия в двух действиях” If I don’t like seeing five H’s and three V’s and a long title on the cover, can I not choose something slightly less sinister and go with “The Seagull” by Boris Akunin?

Suppose Joe and Jane Doe give birth to a wildly imaginative child who happens to be a genius at everything. The only problem is they name him something awful like “Seth” or “Ex_cal” or “Eggo” or “T-Rob” or “Breakerslion…” Does the child not have a right to choose his own, slightly imaginative name for when he starts his creative career? (*cough* “Pixel!” *cough*)
What name would fit his work more? A name of his own creation or T-Rob Doe?
The point is simply that sometimes a ‘real’ name is less real and less correct than a ‘pen’ name.

As can be seen from these examples:

Pen names

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As a young man (this was like twenty minutes ago), I remember reading that Mark Twain’s birth name was Samuel Clemens and thinking, “That’s not a real name! I refuse to call anyone by their non-real name! What a travesty! What does Sammy have to be ashamed of?” Nothing, it turns out. Clemens is a…

Comments

  1. My mother changed her own name when she was 12. Her parents were killed in a WWII camp and her Uncle adopted her immediately after. At the time of adoption she had the opportunity and she took it. She always hated the name she was given. Nobody but the closest family is aware that she ever had a different name. That was in 1945 after all….

    On the other hand, I had the same opportunity when I became the US citizen. I only got rid of the accent marks and kept the name I was given because I happen to like it (and I have already published under it, too, and my wife and kids also had the same last name already).