W. Epaminon-das Adrastus Perkins was the first known pseudonym used by Samuel Clemens. But the poor kid couldn't remember how to spell it no matter how much he aspired to be a writer. He didn't want the other boys in the neighborhood to know he wrote stories. They would call him a sissy. His mind was always thinking up stories. He started to write down his thoughts.

"Samuel, why have you marked up your desk with those two scribbles?" asked his teacher.

Samuel looked embarrassed. He hadn't noticed he was writing on the desk and not paper. He was made to stay after school, cleaning gum from the underneath of all the desks and erasing any writing on them.

It was then he got the idea for his pen name. Two marks on his desk. Mark of course, for the marks on his desk, and Twain was the same as two. Mark Twain.