Names vs. pen names; cultural oddities

[painmike]

So, if I spell my tales made by M-i-k-a P-a-a-n-a-n-e-n, would that drive you away at instant? I'll put a tale out; I used to work for an US corporation here in Finland for 11 years. One phone meeting included Ireland and US parts. US part was collecting the meeting participants, and while i spelled my name, I heard the whispering: 'Jesus Christ' which blew the roofs in Ireland as well as the Chigago area and here in Finland.
Please tell me, should I use a pen name?

[Ted]

I don't see any problem with using Mika Paananen as author, as long as there isn't the -'s between the letters. Is there some salacious meaning to your name which causes some people people to whisper?

I went to school with a man named Larry Gotobed. You think you've got problems??

[painmike]

Thanks Ted, I realize this was kinda strange/funny question but still strictly kind of market research. The Finnish language and names are not exactly the world's easiest thing. I contemplated a bit when starting to publish, how much does unknown author's name weigh. I went stubborn with this, no worry; definitely not being ashamed. And I still think it's better than 'J. Doe'.
And if anyone read down to this row, the '-nen' end is from eastern part of country, from where my family came. One of those is still the most common name in Finland.

[Deleted]

Nov 2, 2012 23:03:43 GMT -8 painmike said:

The Finnish language and names are not exactly the world's easiest thing. I contemplated a bit when starting to publish, how much does unknown author's name weigh. I went stubborn with this, no worry; definitely not being ashamed.

I think for your work being able to spread mouth-to-mouth, the number of a's in your name could cause confusion among those who are unfamiliar with Finnish names. (People make typo's even with common English names, like Wilcock or Wilcox.) If you are considering using a pen name, you could still pick something Finnish as long as it's easy to spell and remember.

[anita]

I have to agree with June. I love the writings of Carl Hiaasen, but usually spell his last name incorrectly when I go searching for his latest releases. In fact, I got it wrong 3 times in my attempt to write this post. A solution is to have the ownership of the websites that are the most common wasy that people tend to misspell the name. It isn't the best solution, but it can help.

[painmike]

Thank you, June and Anita. This is good data; I hesitated quite before posting but decided that I simply have no clue.
If I ever was to use pen name, I guess it would be short mixture of pan-European or then strictly promotional English.
I forgot to reply Ted's question about meanings, as far as I know, there is none. But there is a funny clue that it's ancestor form actually was shorter, cannot remember it. We perhaps tend to make our lives complicated ;D
Thanks all.