Pen Name

"Mark Twain" was not the only pen name Samuel L. Clemens used (Scharnhorst, Early Years 190), but it was the one he employed most consistently in print and private life. First used in a letter published in the Virginia City Territorial Enterprise on 3 Feb. 1863, it remained his principal pseudonym throughout his career and became central to his public identity (see Rasmussen et al. 2:774).

The name's origin has long been associated with Clemens's years as a Mississippi River pilot. According to the traditional explanation, "mark twain" was a leadsman's call indicating a depth of two fathoms (twelve feet), signifying safe water. This interpretation has been widely repeated in newspaper accounts, popular biographies, and scholarly works.

Although alternative explanations have circulated since 1942, they attracted comparatively little attention until Scharnhorst revived the debate in the first volume of his 2018 biography of Clemens (190-192) and developed the argument further in his 2025 article "Mark Twain's Pseudonym One More (Last?) Time." Scharnhorst contends that the riverboat explanation was a deliberate misdirection and that the pseudonym instead originated in Virginia City, where "Mark Twain" referred to Clemens's habit of ordering two drinks and having two chalk marks entered against his account at a local saloon (232).

German-language newspapers frequently mention both "Samuel L. Clemens" and "Mark Twain," though many refer to him simply as "Mark Twain." They also frequently repeated the traditional account of the name's riverboat origin, sometimes as a brief biographical curiosity and sometimes as part of longer reminiscences about Clemens's life and his years as a Mississippi River pilot.

Article Pages

linked to Pen Name (24)

• IA-007 • [MT’s pen name] • 21 Jul 1885
• IA-026 • [Plasmon Bankruptcy] • 7 Jan 1908
• IL-035 • [MT travelling to New York] • 23 Feb 1895
• IL-038 • [MT’s bankruptcy] • 13 May 1895
• MD-096 • [W. W. Phelps invites to dinner] • 28 Nov 1891
• MD-152 • [Impoverished MT living in London] • 28 Jan 1897
• MD-217 • Aus Europa zurückgekehrt • 17 Oct 1900
• MD-233 • Unser Humorist • 1 Dec 1901
• MD-234 • Unser Humorist • 2 Dec 1901
• MD-322 • Mark Twain nach Bermuda • 27 Jan 1908
• MD-342 • Mark Twain gestorben • 23 Apr 1910
• ND-003 • “Mark Twain” gestorben • 28 Apr 1910
• ND-004 • Mark Twains Nachlaß • 1 Dec 1910
• NE-039 • Mark Twains Nachlaß • 18 Nov 1910
• OH-002 • [MT’s name] • 8 Sep 1872
• OH-012 • Strombilder vom Mississippi • 6 Jun 1880
• SD-003 • Wettfahrt auf dem Mississippi • 28 May 1903
• SD-013 • [MT attends dinner in Berlin] • 3 Dec 1891
• TX-011 • [Death of Jane Clemens] • 28 Oct 1890
• TX-012 • [MT and W. W. Phelps in Dresden] • 21 Dec 1891
• TX-038 • [MT back in New York] • 23 Oct 1900
• TX-069 • Mark Twain • 22 Apr 1910
• TX-073 • [MT’s estate] • 31 Oct 1910
• WI-011 • [Orthography and MT’s pen name] • 28 Sep 1906