Nick Harkaway

And I just thought, okay, I'm just going to have a pseudonym.

And the other thing was, to be honest, I knew...

from my father's life that having a pseudonym is a really useful shield.

If somebody wants to yell at Nick Hockaway, they can really do it as much as they like.

In the end, however much it upsets me, it doesn't get to me.

But when somebody comes for you in your real name, that's a different experience.

I know.

Isn't that weird?

I did not notice that until much too late to change it.

I think it's because I just, again, like, osmotically, I believe that the rhythm of a pseudonym should have, the second part should have three syllables.

Yeah.

You know the story about my dad choosing his own pseudonym, that he was told he should have a good, solid, like two monosyllables, good English name.

And he was so irritated by this advice that he chose to make up a French name instead.

So anyway, yeah.

So when I decided I wanted a name, I went to Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, and I literally let it flop open and stuck pins in the words.

And I had a list of 20 absolutely stupid names.

Harkaway was the last one.

Can you give us another one?

Do you have any?

Cantaloupe.