Some authors take on pen names to conceal their identity: for example the 's real name was known: at least one critic disparaged his pen name as an affectation.
A ''shâ'er'' (a Poet who writes '' She'r ''s in Urdu or Persian ) almost always has a Takhallus , a pen name, traditionally placed at the end of the name when referring to the poet by his full name. For example Hafez is a pen-name for ''Shams al-Din'', and thus the usual way to refer to him would be ''Shams al-Din Hafez'' or just ''Hafez''. ''Mirza Asadullah Beg Khan'' (his official name and title) is referred to as ''Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib '', or just '' Mirza Ghalib ''.
Japanese poets who write Haiku often use a ''haiga'' or penname. The famous haiku poet Matsuo Basho had used fifteen different haiga before he became fond of a banana plant (''bashō'') that had been given to him by a disciple and started using it as his penname at the age of 38.
Similar to a pen name, Japan ese Artists usually have a ''gō'' or Art-name , which might change a number of times during their career. Also, all Sumo wrestlers take ''shikona'' (wrestling names), and people in other professions and trades may also adopt new names (see Japanese Professional Names ).
- Martín Adán (Rafael de la Fuente Benavides),1907 - 1985; Peruvian Poet
- Cecil Adams (author of The Straight Dope column—real name unknown)
- Guillaume Apollinaire (Guillaume Albert Vladimir Apollinaire de Kostrowitzky), 20th-century French Poet , Writer , and Art Critic
- Tudor Arghezi (Ion N. Theodorescu), 20th-century Romania n poet and children's author
- Avi ( Edward Irving Wortis ), writer of children's books
- Ba Jin (Li Yaotang), 20th-century Chinese writer
- Richard Bachman ( Stephen King ) 20th-century Horror Author
- W. N. P. Barbellion (Bruce Frederick Cummings), 20th century diarist
- 'BB' ( Denys Watkins-Pitchford ), 20th-century Illustrator and Children's Book Author
- Beachcomber ( D.B. Wyndham-Lewis and John Bingham Morton ), used for the surrealist humorous column "By the Way" in the Daily Express
- Acton Bell, Currer Bell, and Ellis Bell ( Anne Brontë , Charlotte Brontë , Emily Brontë )
- Nicolas Bourbaki (a group of mainly French 20th-century mathematicians)
- Mary Westmacott (Agatha Christie) 20th century British writer
- Kir Bulychev (Кир Булычёв) Igor Vsevolodovich Mozheyko (И́горь Все́володович Може́йко), 20th century Russia n Science Fiction writer and Historian
- Anthony Burgess (John {Link without Title} Burgess Wilson), 20th century British Writer
- Lewis Carroll (Charles Lutwidge Dodgson), 19th century British Author , Mathematician , Anglican clergyman, Logician , and amateur Photographer , writer of "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland"
- Cassandra ( William Connor ), 20th century Left-wing Journalist for The Daily Mirror
- P. Mustapää, ( Martti Haavio ) 20th century Finnish poet,
- James Herriot ( James Alfred Wight), 20th century British writer.
- Aapeli, ( Simo Puupponen ), 20th century Finnish writer and chatty articler
- Geoffrey Crayon ( Washington Irving ), early 19th-century writer
- Petri Pykälä , ( Ilkka Remes ) 20th and 21th century Finnish writer
- Maiju Lassila, Irmari Rantamala, Algoth Tietäväinen, Väinö Stenberg, J.I. Vatanen, Liisan-Antti ja Jussi Porilainen ( Algot Untola ), 20th century Finnish author.
- Sue Denim ( Dav Pilkey ), writer and Illustrator of the popular "Captain Underpants" Children's Book series (Sue Denim is a parody of the word Pseudonym ); also used by Science Fiction writer Lewis Shiner
- Carter Dickson ( John Dickson Carr ), 20th century author of Detective Stories
- Isak Dinesen (Karen Blixen), 20th century Danish author of "'' Out Of Africa ''"
- H.D. (Hilda Doolittle), 20th century American Imagist poet, novelist and Memoirist
- George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans), 19th century English Novelist
- Paul Eluard (Eugène Grindel) 20th century French Dada and Surrealist poet
- C. S. Forester (Cecil Smith), 20th century writer of the Captain Horatio Hornblower novels, "'' The African Queen ''". and other novels
- Anatole France (Jacques Anatole François Thibault), 20th century French author
- Pat Frank (Harry Hart Frank), 20th century author of the Apocalyptic novel Alas, Babylon
- Nicci French (Nicci Gerard and Sean French)
- Anthony Gilbert (Lucy Beatrice Malleson), British author of the Arthur Crook Crime Fiction novels
- K. Hardesh ( Clement Greenberg ), 20th century American art critic
- O. Henry (William Sidney Porter), American author of Short Stories and novels
- Hergé (Georges Remi), 20th century Belgian Comics writer and Artist , famous worldwide for creating the Tintin series of books
- Iceberg Slim Robert Beck, an African American writer.
- Jinyong or Kam-yung (Louis Cha), 20th century Chinese-language novelist
- Robert Jordan (James Oliver Rigney, Jr.), the author of the bestselling '' The Wheel Of Time '' Fantasy series.
- Deidrich Knickerbocker ( Washington Irving ), early 19th-century writer
- Ann Landers (Esther Pauline Friedman), advice Columnist
- Stan Lee (Stanley Martin Lieber), Comic Book pioneer
- Lu Xun (Zhou Shuren), 20th century Chinese writer and cultural critic
- Maddox (George Ouzounian), '' The Best Page In The Universe ''
- Mao Dun (Shen Dehong), 20th century Chinese novelist, cultural Critic , and Journalist
- Multatuli (Eduard Douwes Dekker), Dutch writer famous for his Satirical novel, Max Havelaar (1860)
- Murray Leinster (William Fitzgerald Jenkins), 20th century Science Fiction author
- Molière (Jean Baptiste Poquelin), 17th century French Theatre writer, Director and Actor , and writer of comic Satire .
- Natsume Sōseki (Natsume Kinnosuke), early 20th century Japanese novelist
- Gérard De Nerval (Gérard Labrunie), 19th century French Poet , Essay ist and Translator
- Pablo Neruda (Ricardo Eliecer Neftalí Reyes Basoalto) 20th century Chilean poet. Nobel laureate.
- Abu Nuwas (Hasin ibn Hani al Hakami) 8th century Arabic Language poet ( Persia )
- George Orwell (Eric Arthur Blair), 20th century British author and essayist
- Ouida (Marie Louise de la Ramée), 19th century English novelist
- William Penn ( Jeremiah Evarts ), 19th century activist against Indian Removal
- Q ( Arthur Quiller-Couch ), late 19th and early 20th century British author, poet, and literary Critic
- Ellery Queen ( Frederic Dannay and Manfred B. Lee ), 20th century Detective Fiction
- Pauline Réage (Anne Desclos), 20th century French author and critic who wrote Histoire D'O
- Henry Handel Richardson (Ethel Florence Lindesay Richardson), early 20th century Australia n author
- Saki (Hector Hugh Munro), early 20th century British Satirist
- George Sand (Armandine Lucie Aurore Dupin), 19th century French novelist and early Feminist
- Sapphire (Ramona Lofton), 20th century African-American poet and author
- Sayeh (ه. ا. سایه) Hushang Ebtehaj, 20th century Iran ian poet (هوشنگ ابتهاج)
- Dr. Seuss (Theodore Seuss Geisel), also used "Theo. LeSieg", 20th century American writer and Cartoonist best known for his of Children's Books
- ian poet, writing in Persian and Azerbaijani
- Cordwainer Smith (Paul M. A. Linebarger), 20th century Science Fiction author
- Lemony Snicket (author of A Series of Unfortunate Events—Daniel Handler)
- Stendhal (Marie-Henri Beyle),19th century French writer
- Max Stirner (Johann Kaspar Schmidt), 19th century German Philosopher
- Juhani Tervapää ( Hella Wuolijoki ) 20th-century Estonian-born Finnish writer
- James Tiptree, Jr (Alice Sheldon), 20th century science fiction author
- Toegye ( Yi Hwang ), 16th century Korean Confucian Scholar
- Tom Tomorrow (Dan Perkins) 20th century Editorial Cartoonist
- Lazlo Toth (Don Novello), using name taken from that of a deranged man who vandalized Michelangelo's Pieta in Rome, the pen name was used for the satiric "''The Lazlo Letters''" and other books
- Trevanian (Dr. Rodney Whitaker), 20th century American Spy novelist
- Mark Twain (Samuel Langhorn Clemens), 19th century American Humorist , writer and Lecturer
- Abigail Van Buren (Dear Abby - Pauline Esther Friedman Phillips), advice Columnist
- Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet), 18th century French Enlightenment writer, Deist and philosopher
- Walter ( Henry Spencer Ashbee ), 19th Century book collector, writer, Bibliographer , and suspected author of My Secret Life , the sexual memoirs of a Victorian Era gentleman
- Wang Shiwei 王實味 (Wang Sidao 王思禱), 20th century Chinese Journalist and literary writer
- Artemus Ward (Charles Farrar Browne), 19th century American Humor writer
- Ibn Warraq is a pen name that has traditionally been adopted by dissident authors throughout the history of Islam, including a current writer from India.
- Wonkette (Ana Marie Cox) {Link without Title} , political gossip weblog writer
- Hajime Yatate (Various Sunrise animation staff members)
- Yulgok ( Yi I ), 16th century Korean Confucian scholar
- Paul French ( Isaac Asimov ), Classic Science Fiction Author
- K. A. Applegate (Katherine Alice Applegate) wrote the '' Animorphs '', '' Remnants '', and '' Everworld '' book series. She wrote/writes books under many other pen names as well.
- --- Harlequin romance novels, as Katherine Kendall.
- ---''Girl Talk'' novels, as L.E. Blair
- ---''Ocean City'' series (republished as ''Making Waves'')
- ---''Boyfriends/Girlfriends'' series (republished as ''Making Out'')
- ---''Barf-O-Rama'' series, as Pat Pollari
- --- Disney 's '' The Little Mermaid '' series
- --- Disney 's '' Aladdin '' series, as both A.R. Plumb and her own name
- ---'' Silver Creek Riders '' series, as Beth Kincaid
- ---''Love Stories'' series
- ---''Summer'' series
- ---''The Story of Two American Generals: Benjamin O. Davis Jr. and Colin L. Powell''
- ---''The Very Best Jinx McGee''
- ---''Disney's Christmas with all the Trimmings: Original Stories and Crafts from Mickey Mouse and Friends''
- ---''Disney's Enter if you Dare: Scary Tales from the Haunted Mansion'', as Nicholas Stephens
(Some of these books that weren't meant for a male audience were actually written under her real name, (the female name) Katherine Applegate.)
- E. L. Konigsburg (Elaine Lobl Konigsburg)is an American author of children's books, and two time winner of the Newbery Medal for children's literature.
Book and magazine publishers have sometimes used a penname or pseudonym as the author of a series of stories that would be shared by any number of authors. Often these works are done as a " Work For Hire " with the writers receiving a flat fee and no royalties. Some of these names include:
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