REAL AND ASSUMED NAMES.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XI, Issue 30, 29 July 1893, Page 37

REAL AND ASSUMED NAMES.

Noms de plume, or as the French call them, noms de guerre, are generally very carefully chosen, and frequently have a meaning for the initiated unsuspected by the world at large. Many authors frame their fictitious names upon the initials of their own, thus :—Anne Bronte wrote as ‘ Acton Bell,’ Charlotte Bronte as ‘ Currer Bell,’ and Emily Bronte as ‘ Ellis Bell.’ And I might here mention the interesting but scarcely known fact that Robert Burns was a nom de plume, the poet’s real name being Robert Burness, but it has by right of usage become the family name, as in the case of Henry Irving and H. M. Stanley. Names of the opposite sex are often adopted, especially by lady writers, such as Mrs Henry Wood, who used to write as

‘Johnny L-idlow ;’ Mrs Cross who immortalised herself as ‘George Eliot ;’ Madame Dudevant, who held no mean sway in the literal v and social circles of the last century as ‘George Sand;’ and Mrs Stannard, who delighted the world not long since with the military tales of ‘John Strange Winter.’ This is sometimes reversed, and Algernon Swinburne has gracefully hoisted a petticoat for his standard when he signs himself ‘ Mrs Horace Manners.’ Several well-known names owe their origin to some special circumstance ; for instance, the cry of the leadsman when his line marked two fathoms of water, has suggested to Samuel L. Clemens his worldfamed nn/rt deplume of ‘ Mark Twain;’and Mademoiselle de la Ramee's mispronunciation of her own name, Louisa, when a child, has furnished her with the popular soubriquet of ‘ Ouida.’ Many names, however, are entirely due to individual fancy, no particular law or circumstance being concerned in their evolution. Such, for example, are the ‘Edna Lyall’ of Miss Ada Bayley; the ‘Artemus Ward’ of Charles F. Brown; the ‘Max O’Kell' of Paul Blouet; the ‘Henry Irving’ of Johu H. Brodrib, and the ‘ Lewis Carroll ’ of Reverend Charles Dodgson—the charming author of • Alice in Wonderland.’ Now we come to another class of pseudonyms where, instead of names of persons real or imaginary, some descriptive phrase, or title, or motto, is employed. As examples of the first I might mention ‘ A Lady of England ’ (generally contracted into A. L.O. E.). the pseudonym of Charlotte M. Tucker; and, ‘ A Besieged Resident of Paris,’ owned by Mr Labouchere. As for mottoes and titles, etc., the most famous of all, owing to the controversial war waged round it, is ‘ Junius.’ No less than fifty one persons have been credited with it; and though the bulk of evidence points to Francis as being the author of the celebrated letters, it still remains a matter of dispute as to who really deserves that honour. Though not legally protected by copyright, pseudonyms are effectually guarded by literary etiquette.