nom de plume

noun

ˌnäm-di-ˈplüm 

plural noms de plume ˌnäm(z)-di-ˈplüm 

: a name that a writer uses instead of his or her real name : pseudonym, pen name

Under her nom de plume, [Stacey] Abrams, 44, has published eight romantic thrillers …

—Dartunorro Clark

A woman's name on a book practically guarantees marginalization—which is why so many geniuses, from the Brontë sisters to George Sand and George Eliot, chose to use male noms de plume.

—Erica Jong

Examples of nom de plume in a Sentence

He wrote under a nom de plume.

Recent Examples on the Web

The premise was a fiction—the column wasn’t written by the editor but by the novelist Donald G. Mitchell, who wrote mostly under the nom de plume Ik Marvel. —Christopher Carroll, Harper's Magazine, 2 Jan. 2025

In this sparkling novel, Cate Kay is just that: the nom de plume of a bestselling author who doesn't really exist, after a tragedy in her youth sent her on the run under a succession of different identities. —Lizz Schumer, People.com, 27 Dec. 2024

Cindy Lee is the nom de plume of the musician and drag artist Patrick Flegel, who, back in the late two-thousands and early twenty-tens, fronted the Canadian post-punk band Women. —Amanda Petrusich, The New Yorker, 2 Dec. 2024

Penelope lies about her nom de plume and hides it from Colin. —Roxana Hadadi, Vulture, 18 June 2024

Word History

Etymology

French, pen name; probably coined in English

First Known Use

1840, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

nom de plume

noun

ˌnäm-di-ˈplüm 

plural noms de plume ˌnäm(z)-di- 

: pen name

Etymology

a phrase believed to have been made up in English as a French translation of pen name; from French nom "name" and de "of" and plume "(the) pen"