anonym

/ˈænənɪm/

Other forms: anonyms

An anonym is a fake name someone uses in place of their real one. Samuel Clemens famously published books including The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn using the anonym Mark Twain.

You can use anonym to mean "pseudonym" or "alias," when you say things like "No one knows who Elena Ferrante really is — it's an anonym." The word can also describe a person who goes by a false name: "We have no idea who painted this mural, because it was done by an anonym over the weekend." This meaning, "nameless person," is the original one, derived from the Greek anonymos, "without a name."

Definitions of anonym

1. noun

   a fictitious name used when the person performs a particular social role
   synonyms: nom de guerre, pseudonym

   types:

   stage name

   the pseudonym of an actor

   nom de plume, pen name

   an author's pseudonym

   type of:

   name

   a language unit by which a person or thing is known