Tennessee Williams, famous for plays such as A Streetcar Named Desire and Cat

on a Hot Tin Roof, was born Thomas Lanier Williams III. No one is certain why he
called himself "Tennessee," but it could have been the author's homage to his
ancestors who had lived in the state.

Born Francois Marie Arouet, Voltaire, who is most famous for his
novel Candide (1759), changed his name after several imprisonments in the Bastille.
The name "Voltaire" is an anagram of the Latinized spelling of his last name, Arouet,
and the initial letters of "le jeune" ("the young"). For Voltaire, the adoption of his
new name marked a clear separation from his past and well-to-do family origins.

James Fenimore Cooper's Last of the Mohicans is an American classic, and his
name is synonymous with a legacy of adventure literature. That's exactly what his
mother, Elizabeth Cooper, ne Fenimore, was hoping for. She asked her son to take
her name because there were no men in her family to continue it. Local officials
refused his request to change his name to James Cooper Fenimore, but they did
approve James Fenimore Cooper.

Edgar Allan Poe was raised by foster parents John and Frances Allan after his
mother died. He took their name--and kept it even after the Allans disowned him.

Like Hawthorne, Herman Melville picked up an extra letter in his name. His
father, Allan Melvill, died penniless after a lifetime of fantasizing about his noble
ancestry. Melville's mother and oldest son decided together to add the "e"to the
family name to distance themselves from Melvill's reputation.