The literal translation of “nom de plume” is “the name of the pen,” which we more commonly refer to as a “pen name” or “pseudonym.”
Why write under a pen name? Perhaps your shortsighted human resources director, in Googling™ your name, would not favor the advancement of your career upon realizing that your gothic vampire horror fiction is selling successfully on Amazon.
Perhaps your name is “William Gates” and you don’t want your work to be confused with the nonfiction books written by that guy from Seattle. Perhaps your family and friends do not appreciate your writing talents.
The satirist and author Jonathan Swift adopted the pseudonym “Isaac Bickerstaff, Esquire” for the sole reason of announcing the terminal illness suffered by John Partridge, a then-famous astrologer and Swift’s contemporary. Two months later, “Mr. Bickerstaff ” announced Mr. Partridge’s death from a raging fever. Very much alive and healthy, Mr. Partridge was quite vexed at being forced to repeatedly advise noisy mourners outside his home, as well as his publisher, that he was, in fact, not dead. These days, Mr. Swift could be the subject of an invasion of privacy lawsuit or other tort claims.
More recently, many bloggers living under foreign repressive regimes choose pen names as viable alternatives to being arrested and incarcerated for freely expressing their beliefs. As you can see, the reasons for adopting a pen name are as many and varied as the persons who choose them.
While you are reflecting on the choice of a pen name, be sure to check to see if the related Internet domain name is available. Also check to see if your pseudonym is confusingly similar to someone else’s, for both legal and practical reasons.
The Copyright Office is sympathetic to the desire of authors to use a pseudonym. It is not legally permissible to copyright a pen name, or any name. However, it is legally possible to register your work with the Copyright Office under a pen name.
There are two possible scenarios for that registration. First, if you wish to write under a pen name but want the Copyright Office to identify your work by your real name, provide both the pen name and your real name in the Copyright Office application. However, remember that this is a public document and your application will be part of a permanent database that is freely accessible on the Internet. Your name cannot be “scrubbed” if you change your mind in the future.
Alternatively, if you do not wish your identity to be known to the public, it is possible to check “Pseudonymous” on the copyright application form and not fill in the space for the author’s name. The length of copyright protection for a pseudonymous author is the earlier of 120 years from the work’s creation or 95 years from the work’s publication.
For additional information on registration of pseudonyms, review Factsheet 101 (FL-101) on the U.S. Copyright Office’s website.
Comments contained in this article are informational only and do not constitute legal advice. Please seek the advice of an attorney of your choice regarding specific factual issues.
This article originally appeared in The Florida Writer, the official magazine of the Florida Writers Association.
