RTW: Whoooo Are You?


Road Trip Wednesday is a "Blog Carnival," where YA Highway's contributors and followers post a weekly writing- or reading-related question and answer it on their blogs. You can hop from destination to destination through the YA Highway site and get everybody's unique take on the topic.

This week's topic: If you couldn't use your own name, what would your pseudonym or penname be?


Well, ahem, Angelica R. Jackson is already a pseudonym, for both my photography and writing. It's fairly close to my real name (close enough to cause confusion, actually, I wish I'd thought that through better), but my real one is common enough that there were published writers out there with the same name.

Back when I started writing as a teen, I created the nom de plum of Nikki Atoll. I have no idea what my reasoning was now, other than I wanted to be closer to the beginning of the alphabet and my maiden name started with a W at the time.

But this post is turning out to be rather dull, so I'm going to add a game I filled out on Facebook a while ago:

Everyone has 7 names
#1. Your name: Angelica R. Jackson
#2. Your detective name (favorite color & favorite animal): Red Raven
#3. Your soap opera name (middle name & street you lived on as a child): Rue Hampton
#4. Your Star Wars name (first 3 letters of last name w/ first 2 of middle name & first 2 letters of first name w/ last 3 of last name): Jacru Anson
#5. Superhero name (color of your shirt & item directly to your left): Brownmulti Wall
#6. Goth name (Black & one of your pets' names): Black Blue
(the actual list had no #7, so I think it was naughty and someone deleted it; I added this one)
#7. Secret name that wizards can use against you: Like I'm going to give that one out!

I love Rue Hampton; I would totally use that as a pseudonym. And if I wanted to be close to the beginning of the alphabet, I could use Jacru Anson. I'd be the suckiest superhero ever with a name like Brownmulti Wall.

What about you--ever put any thought into creating a new identity? Legally, of course.

11 comments:

Theresa said...

Your soap opera name works out really well! I love Rue Hampton. Mine could not get any worse. Marie Patchogue Yaphank. I'd be surprised if anyone other than me can pronounce this. lol!

Colin Smith said...

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it's... BROWNMULTI WALL!! Uhh... yeah, I think we need a better formula for that one. :)

Your "Nikki Atoll" story reminds me of my Second Born, who has a number of pseudonyms, mostly because she's a Japanophile and wishes we'd have known this in advanced and given her a cool-sounding Asian name, instead of calling her "Rebekah."

In fact, she recently made friends with a Chinese boy at church. She introduced herself, but he had a really hard time pronouncing her name. So she told him he could call her... and I can't remember the name she gave him, but it's one syllable, Asian-friendly, and nothing like "Rebekah." :)

Unknown said...

My real name is already used by another author too. Nobody ever thinks of that as a reason for a penname until it happens to them.

KatOwens: Insect Collector said...

I agree, Brownmulti Wall is not a keeper. :0)

But Rue Hampton I LOVE!!!!

A fantastic name!

Jaime Morrow said...

I ♥ Rue Hampton! This was so much fun I have to share: 1) Jaime Morrow, 2) Red Sea Otter, 3) Allison Ashgrove, 4) Moral Jarow, 5)Black Mouse, 6) Black Pete (which is actually a creepy Dutch folkloric character and also Mickey Mouse's archnemesis -- eek!).

Your pseudonym sounds very professional and exactly like what you'd find on the front of a book =)

Unknown said...

Rue Hampton would be a great pen name.

Cara M. said...

1) Purple River Otter - this does not strike fear into my bones. 2) Masten Hamilton. 3) Amoma Cadig 4) Blue Cat 3) Black Fiona. *giggles*

Thanks for sharing!

E.B. Black said...

E.B. Black is also a pen name for me. It has some inspiration from my real name, but is nowhere close to it.

And very entertaining game!

That soap opera name, well, mine sounds extremely bizarre because my middle name is a color and the street I grew up on is just a number. It sounds more like it belongs to a robot than a human.

Anonymous said...

I also like the sound of Rue Hampton.

I haven't given much thought to pseudonyms. I thought about using initials, though.

Kris Atkins said...

Brownmulti Wall! Defender of ... frumpiness! Hahaha.
I would be Gray Wall, so we could be, like, a team of ... boring...ness. :)
I think Angelica Jackson is nice. Memorable and it rolls off the tongue easily. Keep it, I say!

Angelica R. Jackson said...

This RTW was so much fun, and enlightening to see how many people say they would never use a pseudonym versus those who already do.

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