Charles Dickens, Groth, Nancy Baker

This Wikipedia article serves as a compilation of pen names, also known as pseudonyms or nom de plumes, employed by notable authors. It explains the various reasons why an author might adopt an alias, such as enhancing name distinctiveness, concealing gender, separating different bodies of work, protecting themselves from repercussions, merging multiple authors under one name, or for marketing and aesthetic purposes. The extent to which an author's true identity is concealed can range from being known only to their publisher to becoming widely recognized.

“A pen name may be used to make the author's name more distinctive, to disguise the author's gender, to distance the author from their other works, to protect the author from retribution for their writings, to combine more than one author into a single author, or for any of a number of reasons related to the marketing or aesthetic presentation of the work.”