Pseudonym

A pseudonym (Greek pseudo + -onym: false name) is an artificial, fictitious name, also known as an alias, used by an individual as an alternative to a person's true name.

In most legal systems, a name assumed for a nonfraudulent purpose is a legal name and usable as the person's true name, which is however preferred or required for various official purposes. The most common example is when a woman assumes her husband's surname without resorting to the formal statutory process (i.e. by petitioning a court; a few American states have a statutory provision for recording a new name at marriage.) Note that in some States only the given and surnames form the legal name; middle names are not technically part of the person's legal name. A pseudonym is distinct from an allonym, which is the name of another actual person, usually historical, assumed by someone in authorship of a work of art; such as when ghostwriting a book or play, or in parody, or when using a front such as by screenwriters blacklisted in Hollywood in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. Someone who is pseudonymous is someone who is using a pseudonym. The opposite is anthroponym, meaning a full legal name or some recognisable shortened form of it such as Fred Smith for Frederick John Smith, with or without titles.

In some cases, the pseudonym has become the legal name of the person using it.

To make it simple, a pseudonym is a fake name used sometimes by authors or others who choose to do such thing.

Regnal name

In many monarchies, the prince starting his reign chooses his official name (regnal name) to be used hence, which may differ from his (birth) name till then; sometimes he selects one of his existing names, sometimes a completely different one. The same is true of the newly elected Pope, where it fits just as well in the monastic tradition of choosing a new religious name when entering orders.

The choice of an existing name may simply be a matter of tradition or intend to honour a specific predecessor, and/or emphasize the hereditary legitimity of succession, or may actually convey a programme or intention.

Nom de guerre

Pseudonyms are adopted by resistance fighters, terrorists and guerrillas often to make enquiries more difficult, to create and maintain an aura of mystery, and to protect their families from reprisal, although other reasons often may exist. The expression nom de guerre (/näm-di-ger/, "name of war") is often used for such pseudonyms, though this expression is rarely, if ever, actually used in French. It is occasionally used as a stylish substitute for nom de plume.

Noms de guerre were frequently adopted by recruits in the French Foreign Legion as part of the break with their past lives. Pseudonyms used by some members of the French resistance were integrated into their last names after World War II; for instance, Jacques Delmas, alias Chaban, became Jacques Chaban-Delmas.

Another famous nom de guerre is Willy Brandt, adopted in 1934 by a German resistance fighter named Herbert Ernst Karl Frahm who had fled Germany for Norway. After his return to Germany, he had the name Willy Brandt officially recognised. He later became mayor of West Berlin, West German foreign minister and West German chancellor.

Within Communist parties and Trotskyist organisations, noms de guerre are usually known as party names or cadre names. This took hold because revolutionaries were often persecuted by states (and also, in the case of Trotskyists, by pro-Soviet communist parties).

In the novel The Three Musketeers, the musketeers of the title use the pseudonyms Athos, Porthos and Aramis instead of their real names, Le Comte de la Fère, M. du Vallon, and Chevalier d'Herblay, respectively.

Some of the more famous noms de guerre include:

Carlos the Jackal for Ilich Ramírez Sánchez
Abu Ammar for Yasser Arafat
Abu Ala for Palestinian leader Ahmed Ali Mohammed Qurei
Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi possibly for Jordanian terrorist Ahmad Fadeel al-Nazal al-Khalayleh
Abu Nour for Sunni Islamist terrorist Abdullah Rashid al-Baghdadi, head of the Mujahideen Shura Council and lead captor of journalist Jill Carroll

Some famous party names include:

Fahd
Lenin
Trotsky
Freddie Forest (Raya Dunayevskaya) and J.R. Johnson (CLR James).
Stalin
Tito
Ho Chi Minh

The origin of “nom de guerre”

The assigning and adopting of noms de guerre was a long standing tradition in the French army; it certainly existed before 1651. In 1716 the practice became more formalised and the French army required all regular soldiers to have a nom de guerre. The names could be arrived at through the choice of the soldier, or perhaps the soldier’s company captain. Some of the naming practices adopted by particular companies enabled the men to be identifiable as members of their companies, much like a serial number: Practices such as assigning men the names of vegetables (the Company of Casaux of the Régiment de Boulonnois-infantrie, between 1764 to 1768) existed.

These names would be retained by the soldiers when they left service and would often be passed on to their wives and children. It is important to understand the old French practice of assigning Noms de guerre when tracing French family histories.

Name in religion

In the tradition of various Roman Catholic religious orders and congregations, members abandon their birthname (for women, e.g. in the Society of the Helpers of the Holy Souls, this reflects the mystical marriage as bride of Christ') to assume a new, often unrelated, devotional name, often referring to an admired saint.

Radio

When used by a radio operator, a pseudonym is a handle, especially in Citizens' band radio. Professional names are also common in radio broadcasting.

Computers

For a person using a computer, a pseudonym is also a handle, a user name, login name, avatar or, sometimes, screen name, nick or nickname.

In online gaming clans, especially first person shooter games, or in a distributed computing project using Internet-connected computers, users or players often create a "clan name" when joining. Often they add the "clan tag" to their existing nick, but some create a new name altogether. Clan tags have been used both before, and after the individual name.

Hunter{FLP}
[EW]Bob
KWSN - Sir Chris @ GNA
KWSN - Migratory Coconuts
KWSN - Sir Taomyn
Vesti\\Un-L337

See Computer Gaming Clans

Pseudonyms in entertainment

When used by an actor, performer or model (person), a pseudonym is a stage name or screen name. In professional wrestling, and sometimes in other combat sports such as mixed martial arts, a pseudonym is a ring name.

Actors — and others in show business — rarely use a pseudonym to disguise themselves. Actors who are members of a less-privileged ethnic or religious group have often adopted stage names, typically changing their surname or entire name to mask their original background — as has been done in other fields as well. This phenomenon was common in the United States in the first half of the twentieth century, as ethnic minorities began to attain a greater role in acting and films, yet social trends had not yet reached the point where such minorities would be accepted with their original non-mainstream identity. Popular Jewish comedian and "Daily Show" host Jon Stewart was born Jonathan Stewart Leibowitz. When asked why he dropped Leibowitz in a "60 Minutes" interview, Stewart sardonically explained that it "sounded too Hollywood".

John Wayne, building a reputation as a tough guy, felt that his given name, Marion Morrison, did not connote the image he sought to assume. Stan Laurel, born Arthur Stanley Jefferson, was apparently happy to be known as Stan Jefferson until he realised that it had thirteen letters. Famous poet and singer Jim Morrison used the pseudonym "Lizard King" and the anagram Mr. Mojo Risin. Paul McCartney sometimes checked into hotels as Paul Ramon, after which The Ramones named themselves.

In many cases, a screen name was constructed simply because a studio executive did not like the actor's real name. Creighton Tull Chaney did not succeed until after he adopted the pseudonym Lon Chaney, Jr., a reference to his famous father Lon Chaney, Sr. Today, the most common reason for a performer to adopt a pseudonym is that someone else has already achieved fame with that name. Performing arts guilds (SAG, WGA, AFTRA, etc.) enforce rules on the use of names formerly registered for credits, generally refusing to allow an identical name to be used again. A notable example is Michael J. Fox, who added the "J" upon joining SAG due to Michael Fox already being registered.

A special case is the name Alan Smithee, which was used until 1998 (and is still occasionally used) by directors in the DGA to remove their name from a film they feel was edited or modified beyond their artistic satisfaction. Many productions over the years have been credited to the name, which is also occasionally used for in-flight versions or telecasts.

In some cases, a stage name is intended to separate the public persona from the private life. But while keeping a real name for private use may help one go unrecognized in public, it can rarely be kept entirely secret and may become an item of gossip in itself.

In the music world, pseudonyms have been used to allow artists to collaborate with artists on other labels while avoiding the need to gain permission from their own labels. George Harrison, for example, played guitar on Cream's song "Badge" (which he also co-wrote with Eric Clapton). He was credited on the recording as "L'Angelo Mysterioso" ("The Mysterious Angel").

Most hip hop artists prefer to use a pseudonym that represents some variation of their name, personality, or interests. Prime examples include Ol' Dirty Bastard (who was known under at least six aliases), Diddy (formerly known as P. Diddy, and Puff Daddy), Ludacris, LL Cool J, and Chingy. See List of hip hop musicians.

Other pseudonyms

Others in public life have adopted pseudonyms for many reasons. In the late eighteenth to early nineteenth centuries, it was established practice for political articles to be signed with pseudonyms, the most famous American example being the pen name Publius, used by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay, in writing The Federalist Papers. Malcolm X, the civil rights campaigner, (born Malcolm Little), adopted the 'X' to represent his unknown African ancestral name. Many Jewish politicians re-adopted Hebrew family names on return to Israel, dropping westernized versions that may have been in the family for generations. David Ben Gurion, for example, was born David Grün in Poland. He adopted his Hebrew name in 1910, when he published his first article in a zionist journal in Jerusalem.

Famous pseudonyms of people who were neither authors nor actors include:

Le Corbusier, the architect, was Charles Édouard Jeanneret.
Aphex Twin, prolific IDM artist Richard D. James, who uses up to 11 other different names on various releases.
Alan Smithee is a name commonly used by directors who want to disown their own movie.
George Spelvin and Georgina Spelvin are names used in American theater when the actor playing the part is unknown at printing time, wishes to remain anonymous, or the part is double cast or played by an actor who plays more than one character in the cast.
Luther Blissett is a shared pseudonym often used for activist and artistic purposes, especially in the Italian art scene.
David Agnew is used on BBC programmes where a writer's name cannot be used for contractual reasons.
Nicolas Bourbaki was a famous pseudonym for a group of mathematicians.
Student was William Sealey Gosset, discoverer of Student's t-distribution in statistics.
Hambali is Riduan Isamuddin, the leader of Jemaah Islamiah, a terrorist group; he was born Encep Nurjaman
Edward Gorey had dozens of pseudonyms, each one an anagram of his real name.
Jim McKay is the professional name of American sportscaster James Kenneth McManus.

On the internet, pseudonymous remailers utilising cryptography can be used to achieve persistent pseudonymity, so that two-way communication can be achieved, and reputations can be established without linking a physical identity to a pseudonym.

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