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My name is Vinícius Morais, and I'm new to writing books. I have finished my first fantasy novel. But do I keep my name as the author or create a pen name? The main problem is there's a great poet and composer in Brazil (I'm from Brazil too) with the name Vinicius de Moraes.

The name is not same, as you can see, but for search engines it might as well be. Every place (Google, Amazon, Wikipedia...) you search Vinícius Morais, you will find Vinicius de Moraes's books and music.

I'm not sure if this is bad for me. I really want to maintain my real name in my books, but I need to think. I imagine that one day I will sell some books. Is better to use a pseudonym?

*Changing my name is not possible.

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    do you have a middle name you can add or a nickname you can use?
    – Lauren-Clear-Monica-Ipsum
    Commented Feb 19, 2019 at 16:06
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    See also writing.stackexchange.com/questions/20136/…
    – NofP
    Commented Feb 19, 2019 at 16:11
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    Just use your name if that's what you would like to do. As you say, it is not the same. Google around--there are multiple same-name author examples out there. You aren't writing poetry, and so on, so don't fret.
    – SFWriter
    Commented Feb 19, 2019 at 16:36
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    Welcome to Writing.SE, Vinicius. I did a large edit on your question for grammar and such. Normally I try to keep the author's voice as close to the original as possible, but it just made more sense to change some of your wording. You used a lot of phrases that didn't translate directly into English. If I made any mistakes in your meaning, please edit it back.
    – Cyn
    Commented Feb 19, 2019 at 16:49
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    Have you considered using initials? V. M. Silva, or whatever is appropriate for your culture.
    – S. Mitchell
    Commented Feb 19, 2019 at 17:37

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I say keep your real name.

It's not exactly the same as any other author at the moment and none of the names you mention are unique enough that it would be confusing to use something similar. It's not like your real name is George LL Martin or William Shookspeare.

No matter what name you choose, Google will get it wrong. There will always be somebody else's name that's close enough to muddle the results.

Say you do pick a pen name that magically comes up with no other results in search engines. How do you know this won't change? Someone else with a real or chosen name similar to yours might come along and ruin your carefully crafted naming. There was a question here on Writing about an established author who discovered that someone in another country chose a pen name that happened to be the same as the author's name (it's unlikely this was on purpose) and then used it to author several porn novels for sale on Amazon.

So stick with your actual name. Maybe the longer version if you think it will differentiate yourself better. But something that is still you. There's no telling what names may be popular in the future. Perhaps it will be yours.

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  • "It's not like your real name is George LL Martin or William Shookspeare." Hmmm, the OPs name is the same as Vinicius de Moraes bar 1 letter (you need to ignore the "de" for Google purposes). That makes the names closer than your examples to the well known authors you are comparing them to.
    – Chris Rogers
    Commented Feb 19, 2019 at 23:21
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    @ChrisRogers 3 letters and a space. But my point is that those aren't just well known names in the English-speaking world, but unique ones. At least for writers that I've seen. The names of the author and the one Google thinks he is are common names. As is "George Martin" (it's the initials that make it special).
    – Cyn
    Commented Feb 19, 2019 at 23:25

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