Pen Name

Writers' Corner
1

There’s no typical reason, really, but my birth name is NOT EASY TO PRONOUNCE. It’s a traditional Korean name, Chae-Eun. Yes, with the hyphen and all. So most of my friends that aren’t Korean know me under the name of [name_f]Jessica[/name_f], which is not legally it, but much easier for the English-speaking eye. [name_f]Jessica[/name_f] [name_f]Sharon[/name_f] Shin, at the full version. But it’s a very boring name, and I don’t like it that much… so I’ve been considering pen names.

My family tree would be perfectly useless, as my family has just-about-as-complex-as-mine kind of names, but I do want my first name to honor my birth name Chae-Eun, which along the lines means “miner of grace.” So something that means graceful or just grace would be good.

Other things I care for a lot: writing, philosophy, stars. Not that it will help a lot, but still.

Suggestions? They can be entirely new or a mix-up of the names I already have. Anagrams would also be okay, or taking the letters from the names I’ve listed already. Also, should I keep my last name, for the least?

2

It’s really up to you whether or not you’d like to keep your last name. I personally would, because it’s a connection to your heritage and there’s nothing objectively wrong about it or hard to pronounce. If you think it’s boring, maybe you could choose another Korean last name for your pen name. That way you get to maintain your cultural identity, but still take on an alternate alias for your writing.

Names meaning “grace”:

[name_f]Ana[/name_f]ïs
[name_f]Anna[/name_f]
[name_f]Annalee[/name_f]
[name_f]Anya[/name_f]
[name_f]Carissa[/name_f]
[name_f]Grace[/name_f] (of course)
[name_f]Hannah[/name_f]

Some other random names I think might work based off of your English name are [name_f]Jessa[/name_f], [name_u]Jess[/name_u], [name_f]Jessamine[/name_f], [name_f]Cherie[/name_f], and [name_u]Shae[/name_u]/[name_u]Shay[/name_u].

It’s not a lot, but I hope this helps you a little at least. The only other suggestion I can think of is going by C.E. Shin. It simplifies your first name without sacrificing it, and I think it has a nice ring to it!