Are pen names usually anagrams of the author's real name?

Question

I really know nothing about pen names but recently I heard someone say they are usually anagrams of the author's real name? True or false? Would it be a good idea to get a pen name? I'm planning on becoming an author when i'm older and personally, I hate the name Pippa Rose.

All answers are appreciated.

Love always,

Pippa

Answer 1

They can be.  The artist Edward Gorey once did illustrations under the name "Dreary Wodge."  However, there's no rule.  George Eliot and Georges Sand were, respectively, Marianne Evans and Aurore Dupin--no apparent connection.  "Mark Twain" was a call that a Mississippi boatman used to indicate the river depth--and Samuel Clemens was not the first person to write under that name!  The Bronte sisters used more or less masculine-sounding names that had their initials. "O. Henry" draws all its letters but the H from the author's real name, William Sidney Porter, but I don't know whether that was why he used it.  "Barbara Vine," the name under which Ruth Rendell writes her more mainstream novels, combines the author's middle name with the maiden name of her mother or grandmother.    Rosemary Tllman combines the names, first or last, of her mother and her two grandmothers.  Andre Norton is really Alice.  So the possibilities are limitless!  If you want to play on your real name, go fot it, but you can really choose any name you like.

Answer 2

Pen names are normally wildly different as authors or publisher's don't believe the original name will sell well. Also making an anagram out of a name is quite difficult, for example, the best I can come up with for you is Sera Piopp. I however think Pippa Rose is an excellent name to have on a book. Good luck with the writing :D

Answer 3

Anagrams aren't necessarily the recipe for pen names.  My pen name is my initials and last name.  My full out name is 22 letters long and would take up an incredible amount of space on a book cover.  I also have three other pen names as do some authors.  They switch around their middle and first names or drop the last name or use their maiden name or married name.  I have a friend who works in law another who is a scientist and they wanted to keep their writing separate and apart so they use pen names.  I write under several genres and therefore I have pen names to distinguish the type of writing.  My romances are my initials, my erotica is under Sensual Gruv and my urban is under Gruv.

Answer 4

It's not usual.  Usually people go with their initials, or someting else like that.  Anagrams are rather difficult to do, especially those that would make sense.