Untuk berbagai alasan, seorang penulis seringkali menggunakan nama samaran. Alasan eksotisme, nama asli yang susah di ingat, alasan komersil sampai politis membuat mereka mengganti nama mereka dengan nama alias atau nama pena.

Di bawah ini adalah nama samaran yang digunakan oleh beberapa penulis dunia. Kadang ada satu namaran yang kebetulan dipakai oleh beberapa penulis. Kadang seorang penulis yang namanya sudah kondang menggunakan nama lain. Misalnya Charles Dickens pernah menggunakan nama Boz sebagai nama samarannya.

A
Abhishek Kumar Yadav =Annu.

Abigail Van Buren =Pauline Esther Friedman Phillips.

Abram Tertz =Andrei Sinyavsky.

Acton Bell =Anne Bront./George William Russell.

Alain-Fournier =Henri Alban-Fournier.

Alberto Moravia =Alberto Pincherle.

Ann Landers =Esther "Eppie" Pauline Friedman Lederer.

Alcofribas Nasier =Franois Rabelais.

Alexander Barks =Charlie Christensen.

Anatole France =Jacques Anatole Franois Thibault.

Anne Rice =Howard Allen O'Brien.

Anne Knish =Arthur Davison Ficke.

Arkon Daraul =likely Idries Shah.

Ashida Kim =Radford William Davis.

B
Barbara Michaels =Barbara Mertz.

Blaise Cendrars =Frdric Louis Sauser.

Bob Hart =Al Trace / Albert J. Trace.

Boris Akunin =Grigory Shalvovich Chkhartishvili.

Boz =Charles Dickens.

Branislav Nusic' =Ben Akiba.

C
Cherry Wilder =Cherry Barbara Grimm.

Cherubina de Gabriak =Elisaveta Ivanovna Dmitrieva.

Christopher Hunter =Radford William Davis.

Clem Watts =Albert J. Trace.

Cordwainer Smith =Paul Myron Anthony Linebarger.

Currer Bell =Charlotte Bront.

Curzio Malaparte =Kurt Erich Suckert.

D
Daniel Defoe =Daniel Foe.

Daniil Kharms =Daniil Ivanovich Yuvachev.

Danuta de Rhodes =Dan Rhodes.

David Axton =Dean Koontz.

David Michaels =Raymond Benson.

Dazai Osamu =Shuji Tsushima.

Dear Abby =Pauline Esther Friedman Phillips.

Douglas Spaulding = Ray Bradbury.

Dr. Seuss =Theodore Geisel.

E
Edith Van Dyne =L. Frank Baum.

Edogawa Rampo =Hirai Taro-.

Edward Pygge =Ian Hamilton, Clive James, Russell Davies.

Edwin Caskoden =Charles Major.

Elia =Charles Lamb.

Elizabeth Peters =Barbara Mertz.

Ellis Bell =Emily Bront.

Ellis Peters =Edith Pargeter.

Elsa Triolet =Elsa Kagan.

Emanuel Morgan =Witter Bynner.

Erich Maria Remarque =Erich Paul Remark.

F
Flann O'Brien =Brian O'Nolan.

Francis Bennett =Edwin Keppel Bennett.

Franoise Sagan =Franoise Quoirez.

G
George Eliot =Mary Ann Evans.

George Orwell =Eric Arthur Blair.

George Sand =Amandine Dupin.

Georges Courteline =Georges Victor Marcel Moinaux

Grace Greenwood =Sara Jane Lippincott.

Guillaume Apollinaire =Wilhelm Albert Vladimir Apollinaris de Kostrowitzky.

H
H.N. Turtletaub =Harry Turtledove.

Hard Pan =Geraldine Bonner.

Harold Robbins =Harold Rubin.

Havank =Hans van der Kallen.

Herg =Georges Remi.

Hugh Conway =Frederick John Fargus.

I
Ilya Ilf =Ilya Arnoldovich Faynzilberg.

Irwin Shaw =Irwin Shamforoff.

Italo Svevo =Ettore Schmitz.

J
J. K. Rowling =Joanne Rowling.

James Dillinger =James Robert Baker.

James Tiptree, Jr =Alice Sheldon.

Jay Livingston =Jacob Harold Levison.

Jean Paul =Johann Paul Friedrich Richter.

Jean Plaidy =Eleanor Hibbert.

Johann Joachim Sautscheck =Roman Turovsky-Savchuk.

John Beynon =John Wyndham Parkes Lucas Beynon Harris.

John Christopher =Samuel Youd.

John le Carre =David John Moore Cornwell.

John Wyndham =John Wyndham Parkes Lucas Beynon Harris.

Joseph Conrad =Jzef Teodor Na?e;cz Konrad Korzeniowski.

K
Korney Chukovsky =Nikolay Vasilyevich Korneychukov.

Keno =Eric Killinger.

L
Lemony Snicket =Daniel Handler.

Lewis Carroll =Charles Lutwidge Dodgson.

Lorenzo da Ponte =Emmanuele Conegliano .

Louis-Ferdinand Cline =Louis-Ferdinand Destouches.

M
Mark Brandis =Nikolai von Michalewsky.

Mark Twain =Samuel Langhorne Clemens.

Mary Westmacott =Agatha Christie.

Michael Arlen =Dikran Kuyumjian.

Michael Innes =J. I. M. Stewart.

Molire =Jean-Baptiste Poquelin.

Multatuli =Eduard Douwes Dekker.

Murray Leinster =Will F. Jenkins.

N
Nancy Boyd =Edna St. Vincent Millay.

Natsume Soseki =Natsume Kinnosuke.

Nisa =Nicola Salerno.

Nicolas Bourbaki = group yang terdiri dari para ahli matematika di abad 20.

Novalis =Friedrich Leopold.

O
O. Henry =William Sydney Porter.

Ogdred Weary =Edward Gorey.

Onoto Watanna =Winnifred Eaton.

P
Paul Annixter =Howard Allison Sturtzel.

Paul Celan =Paul Antschel.

Jean Ray =Jean Raymond Marie de Kremer.

Pauline Rage =Anne Desclos.

Peter Gast =Heinrich Kselitz.

Pierre Loti =Louis Marie Julien Viaud.

Piers Anthony =Piers Anthony Dillingham Jacob.

Phillip Guston =Phillip Goldstein.

Publius =Alexander Hamilton, James Madison dan John Jay ketika menulis novel berjudul The Federalist Papers.

Q
Q =Arthur Quiller-Couch.

R
Richard Bachman =Stephen King.

Richard Leander =Richard von Volkmann.

Robert Jordan =James Oliver Rigney, Jr..

Robert Markham =Kingsley Amis.

Romain Gary =Romain Kacew.

Rosemary Edghill =eluki bes shahar.

S
Saint-John Perse =Alexis Saint-Lger Lger.

Saki =Hector Hugh Munro.

Sapper =H. C. McNeile.

Seiko Legru =Janwillem van de Wetering.

Silence Dogood =Benjamin Franklin.

Sister Nivedita =Margaret Elizabeth Noble.

Stash Cairo =Craig Hamilton.

Stefan Brockhoff =Dieter Cunz, Richard Plant, Oskar Seidlin.

Steele Rudd =Arthur Hoey Davis.

Student =William Sealey Gosset.

Sui Sin Far =Edith Maude Eaton.

T
The Fredman =Karl Mikael Bellman.

Thoinot Arbeau =Jehan Tabourot.

TM Maple =Jim Burke.

Toni Morrison =Chloe Anthony Wofford.

U
Umberto Saba =Umberto Poli.

V
Vercors =Jean Bruller.

Vernon Sullivan =Boris Vian.

Voltaire =Franois-Marie Arouet.

W
Walter =Henry Spencer Ashbee.

Willibald Alexis =Georg Wilhelm Heinrich Haring.

Woody Allen =Allen Stewart Konigsberg.

Y
Yevegny Petrov =Yevgeniy Petrovich Kataev.

Yukio Mishima =Kimitake Hiraoka.