Update-Changing to a Pen Name

I have officially been writing for AC for 16 months. When I first started, I thought about using a pen name. My husband made an off-handed comment about using my maiden name at the time. I blew off the comment because I'm proud of my name, and he if anyone, should understand that.

We finally had a discussion last night and my wonderful husband told me that the only reason he's not very supportive of my writing is because I'm using my real name. He is concerned about safety and possible identity problems. He actually said that WHEN I finally write a best seller then we would have to move and change our name! I only focused in on the "when I write a best seller" and never argued the point that his entire statement was not only far-fetched but a tad melodramatic. Anyways, after 16 months he wants me change my name to a pen name. I know, I know, we NEED to work on our communication!

I have been thinking about changing my name since I read two blog posts by Michelle (Michy) Devon. She gave valid reasons for not using your real name online or in fiction writing. You can read her posts: How to Choose a Pen Name for Your Writing and Pen Names for Branding Fiction and Non-Fiction.

In Michy's blog posts she goes over the reasons to use a pen name. One thing that I did not think about was discoverability in search engines. Right now, K. Karl has 5,580,000 search results on Google. My contributor profile comes up first, but we all know how Google is making results customized to your location. I also know that there at least three other women with my exact same name living in Ohio and none of them are related to me. The way I see it, this makes for easy deniability.

Since my husband has never made any definitive statements for or against my writing until now, I figured I better consider his feelings. Changing my name to my maiden name is just too generic with over 23,000,000 search results. I still like my name and I'm proud to have it attached to my work but it is time for a change.

I'm going to use my real first name: Kim. I would like my last name to sound real, be searchable, and be able to 'become' that person. I also want my pen name to mean something so I've come up with a few new last names by combining my kids' names.

Kevson (203 results)

Javin (64,600 results)

Jasvin (1,460 results)

Keason (2,470 results)

Kejan (5,610 results)

Jaken (75,300 results)

Keson (59,000 results, I'm leaning towards this one because I like the way it sounds)

So putting my first name together with my new last name, what sounds better? I would really like to hear your opinions. The next time you get a publication notice from me, it just might be one of these.