By Anna Otto of Waltzing More Than Matilda

February 17th is the birthdate of Andrew Barton Paterson, affectionately known as “Banjo” Paterson.  He was named Andrew after his Scottish-born father, and his middle name Barton was a family name from his mother’s side; he was related to Edmund Barton, who would later become Australia’s first prime minister. Because he and his dad had the same name, Paterson went by his middle name, and was always known as Barty to his friends and family.

Paterson lived with his grandmother while he was attending the prestigious Sydney Grammar School, and she encouraged in him a love of poetry. He was 21 when he first began submitting poems to The Bulletin, under the pseudonym of “The Banjo” (sometimes shortened to a simple “B”).  Full of fierce nationalism and a desire for a fairer society, he had some aspirations to write fiery polemic, and had even written a political pamphlet.  However, The Bulletin had other ideas.

In the late nineteenth century, there was a movement towards the British colonies of Australia becoming one country, a feeling that Australia should be a united nation, and Australians a united people. In the effort to provide Australia with a unifying mythology that would instill nationalistic pride, it seemed that the Australian bush and outback would be the symbol to draw everyone together.

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There was a time when it was de rigueur for performers to change their names—to anglicize those that they felt sounded too ‘foreign’ or to up the cuteness factor of their name (e.g. Alicia ? Jodie).  This doesn’t happen so much anymore (hat tip to you, Renee Zellweger and Zach Galifianakis)), unless you’re talking about rock stars and rappers—we have to admit 50 Cent sounds more intriguing than Curtis, Ginuwine than Elgin, and Foxy Brown foxier than Inga.

But looking back at some of the switches made in the past, and in light of changing fashions and trends,  a lot of the abandoned names now sound cooler –and often more sophisticated (Julia over Julie) –than their replacements.  Here some celebrity names before and after:

girls

Anne Rice–  HOWARD Allen Frances O’Brien (Howard was her father’s name — could her parents have been hoping for a son?)

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If you wrote a novel and decided to publish it under another name, what would your ideal pseudonym be?

Would you make a gender switch à la the Brontë sisters, when Anne, Charlotte and Emily used Acton, Currer and Ellis Bell?

Would you choose a more dramatic name such as Ayn Rand (born Alisa Rosenbaum) did?

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