I have no name!
I did have one, but it's a bit broke cos of negative associations. Then I had another one but it turns out to also belong to some Scottish liberal democrat.
I need a pseudonym that sounds like a real person, but is a bit distinctive, a bit sassy, a bit clever... argh. I really don't mind if it's actually quite ordinary, I just have to feel like it could be me.
It's horribly difficult. All suggestions welcome.
You Said It
2 days ago
13 comments:
Pseudonym for what? Your book? A blog? Miss Slapdash sprang to mind, then Airy Fairy, but neither of them sound like real people. How about Carey Drelbus? That scores a zero on Google (and if you can't work out how I arrived at it, email me).
I had to make up a whole load of names to populate a demo database once. My favourite has stayed with me to this day: Mezzanine Prophylactic. Probably not what you're after.
Unfortunately the only thing I can think of is that porn name generator that was going around a year or so ago and even then I can't remember how it was meant to work.
Distinctive, sassy and clever? Well, I'd offer Xanthar Arbitrax which is my son's pseudonym but that doesn't QUITE seem to fit the bill...
Heh. As soon as I submitted that I had the brilliant idea of using blog-comment-word-verifyer-thingies. Your first name is Mical but I won't know the last until I try to post this at which point it will be too late!
Why is it too late, Megan? Just post again! Come on, I'm all agog: What will my surname be??
The porn star thing makes me Dixie Tutton, which is rather good and I have used it in the past as a pseudonym when writing - wait for it - erotic fiction, no less.
Lola, Mezzanine Prophylactic is an utterly wonderful name, but sadly I don't want it to be obvious that it's a pseudonym.
Same goes for Xanthar Arbitrax, but I like it otherwise. But it belongs to your son, Megan. Begone with your hand-me-downs!
Queenie, it's for my book. Miss Slapdash and Airy Fairy fail on the sounds-real front, and you're very lucky I'm not slapping you with a wet fish for the implications involved. ;) Carey Drelbus... I see why, but again doesn't sound real, or at least makes me sound like a serial killer...
Incidentally Queenie, "I Flex" and "DS Buyer" are rather good pseudonyms that me and somebody else you and I both know worked out recently. Not for me though.
Aaaaanyway... I was cycling home just now and hit upon a couple of potential winners, I reckon. I just need to Google them to see if they're already taken. Hang on...
Sorted! I'm Alice Turing. Unless anyone comes up with anything better.
Or Silver Bergman?
I once had someone ask me how I came up with my name. I wasn't sure how to respond to that. I was thinking, "Seriously? Would YOU choose this name?" but I was polite and told her that I let my mom pick it out for me.
But pseudonyms are fun. Except...what's wrong with Beleaguered Squirrel? Well, if you insist on something different, how about something like Beatrix Potter? It has a lovely ring to it. But if that doesn't work for you, how about Marolina Caldez Viller?
Zoey Wainwright?
Sadie Lawrence?
I love thinking of names :o)
It's going on the spine of a novel, so Beleaguered Squirrel doesn't cut it. It's fine as a blogging pseudonym, but it doesn't have authorial weight. It's not a proper name, for a start. And I'm not a squirrel, not really.
Beatrix Potter has already been used! I don't honestly want people to think my novel was written by someone who also likes to write cutesy whimsical tales about anthropomorphised animals...
But I think you may be yanking my chain.
I did seriously consider Beatrice at one point though.
Marolina is rather good. I like that. But I've already decided: I'm Alice Turing.
Sadie Lawrence, I like that one. But Alice Turing has the edge. And I hate prolonged havering, so I'll probably stick with it.
Alice Turing? Referencing the brilliant but troubled Alan Turing, cryptologist, mathematician, logician and tragic suicide thanks to an ungrateful nation who couldn't overlook or accept his homosexuality? Interesting...
For the record, your surname would have been Nulac. Now I'm off to write a novel where the characters are named entirely out of word verifyers... either that or that's where the dialogue comes from...
You're not a squirrel???!!! *looks devastated as world-as-we-know-it comes crashing down*.
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