Pen Name
Quick answer: A pen name, or nom de plume, is a pseudonym a writer publishes under instead of their legal name. See why poets adopt one and how to choose a name that lasts.
A pen name is a name a writer publishes under that is not their legal name. Also called a pseudonym or nom de plume, it appears on the poems, the book covers and the bylines, while the person behind it signs the contracts and cashes the cheques under their real identity. A pen name can be a small adjustment, such as initials in place of first names, or a complete invention with no visible link to the writer at all.
Poets have used pen names for centuries, and you will meet them everywhere once you start looking: on journal mastheads, in contest results, across the history of literature. Some of the most famous names in poetry were made up by the people who carried them.
Why Poets Use Them
The reasons are practical more often than romantic. A poet may want privacy from employers, family or an unsafe situation. Their legal name may already belong to a published author, or be hard for readers to remember or spell. Some writers keep separate names for separate kinds of work, so the crime novels never shadow the poetry. And in countries or eras where writing honestly is dangerous, a pseudonym can be a matter of survival.
There is also the quieter reason: a new name can free the voice. Plenty of poets report that they write more bravely under a name that feels like a costume, or like a truer self.
Famous Examples
Pablo Neruda was born Ricardo Eliécer Neftalí Reyes Basoalto and took his pen name as a teenager, partly to keep his poetry from his disapproving father. Hilda Doolittle published as H.D. for most of her career. Fernando Pessoa went far beyond a pseudonym, inventing entire alternative poets, his famous heteronyms, each with a biography and a distinct style. The tradition runs through prose too, from George Eliot to George Orwell, but poetry has always had a particular fondness for the invented self.
Practicalities
Using a pen name is legal almost everywhere, and you do not usually need to register anything to publish under one. Copyright still belongs to you as a person. When you submit, put the pen name where the byline goes and your legal name where payment and contact details go, and tell the editor plainly, with a line such as: 'I write as Marlowe Finch; my legal name for payment is given below.' Choose a name you can live with for decades, check that its web addresses and social handles are free, and then be consistent, because scattered bylines split your readership.
What poets can take from this
- Search your chosen name thoroughly before committing, including bookshop listings and domain names.
- Keep one pen name per genre at most; a trail of abandoned names confuses editors and readers.
- Tell editors your legal name privately so contracts and payments work smoothly.
- Say the name aloud at an imaginary open mic; if it sounds awkward introduced from a stage, keep looking.
- Decide early how secret the name must be, because unmasking a loosely kept pseudonym is easy.
Try it yourself
Invent a pen name for yourself, then write the first poem that poet would publish. Give them one obsession you do not share and one you do, and let both show in the poem.
Questions
Do I need to register a pen name legally?
In most countries, no. You can publish under any name you like as long as you are not committing fraud. Contracts, tax forms and copyright registrations should still carry your legal name, usually noted as 'writing as' your pseudonym.
Can I enter poetry contests under a pen name?
Usually yes, and many contests judge anonymously anyway, so the byline only matters at the results stage. Check the rules, and make sure the organiser can still reach and pay the real you.
What is the difference between a pen name and a heteronym?
A pen name is a different label for the same writer. A heteronym, Fernando Pessoa's invention, is a fully imagined separate author with their own style, opinions and life story. Pessoa's heteronyms wrote poems he claimed he could not have written himself.
By the Writory editorial team, reviewed by working poets. Updated July 2026.
Enter a Writory poetry contest
Enter the September contest and have your own poem read and scored. That first entry makes you a Writorian.