Pseudonym
2 of the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Pseudonym. Both are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
su'do-nim, a fictitious name taken by an author in order to conceal or veil his identity, known also as " pen name ." Such a name is adopted by an author in order to remain unknown or to attract attention. Local political writers are quite given to concealing their identity under such pen names as Observer, Spectator, Tom Noswal, or Farmer Ben. The writer of the famous Junius letters of British politics is not yet known to a certainty. Poor Richard, the almanac writer, was a household name in the colonies. Charles Dickens signed his earlier efforts Boz. Washington Irving wrote for a time as Jonathan Oldstyle; Lowell concealed himself as Hosea Biglow. Prosaic Mary Ann Evans signed herself George Eliot; Charlotte Bronte wrote at first as Currer Bell. J. G. Holland is almost as well known as Timothy Titcomb as by his real name. Madame Dudevant is unknown except as George Sand. Sara Payson made herself known to readers as Fanny Fern; Mrs. Lippincott, as Grace Greenwood; Mary Abigail Dodge, as Gail Hamilton. Helen Hunt Jackson signed herself H. H.; Harriet Mann wrote her delightful sketches of bird life over the signature of Olive Thorne. After her marriage to W. T. Miller in 1849 she signed her writings Olive Thorne Miller. The real name of Charles Egbert Craddock is Mary Noailles Murfree. Oliver Optic is William T. Adams. Ik Marvel is Donald Grant Mitchell. Benjamin P. Shillaber is unknown to fame except as Mrs. Partington. Samantha. Allen or Josiah Allen's Wife is really Marietta Holley. The Mother Goose of juvenile literature is supposed to have been Elizabeth Vergoose. The pen name of Alice French is Octave Thanet. Pansy is that of Mrs. G. R. Alden. Samuel Goodrich is unknown practically save as Peter Parley. Charles F. Browne amused the American public as Artemus Ward; Samuel L. Clemens, as Mark Twain ; Henry W. Shaw, as Josh Billings . D. R. Locke wrote for the papers as Petroleum V. Nasby. Joel Chandler Harris is our delightful Uncle Remus of the rabbit stories. The list may be extended indefinitely.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
a false, feigned, or ficname; a titious pen-name.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
Aiton's 1910 list of pen names still reads accurately, and the practice it describes has not gone away: Elena Ferrante's identity has been argued over since the 1990s much as "Junius" was, and J. K. Rowling's crime novels appeared under "Robert Galbraith" from 2013 until a leak exposed her within months. The one point Aiton left open has largely closed: he wrote that the author of the Junius letters "is not yet known to a certainty," whereas most scholars now accept Sir Philip Francis, a case strengthened by Alvar Ellegard's statistical study of the text in 1962. What has genuinely shifted is scale and motive — the pseudonym is now overwhelmingly the internet handle, adopted by billions rather than by a few authors, and the reasons Aiton gave (to remain unknown, or to attract attention) have been joined by protection from harassment and, for women writers, by the reverse move of reclaiming real names.
Written for this edition, 2026.