Guide to Literary Terms

Guide to Literary Terms

Guide to Literary Terms: Nom de plume


Nom de plume (also called pseudonym) - the assumed name under which an author writes.

The term is taken from the French nom de plume, meaning “pen name” but does not actually exist in the French language—which uses nom de guerre, meaning “assumed name under which a person fights or writes.”

Several well-known nom de plumes are Mark Twain (Samuel L. Clemens); George Orwell (Eric Blair); and George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans).

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