Editing Voltaire (section)

=== Name ===
Arouet adopted the name Voltaire in 1718, following his incarceration at the Bastille. Its origin is unclear. It is an [[anagram]] of ''AROVET LI'', the Latinized spelling of his surname, Arouet, and the initial letters of {{lang|fr|le jeune}} ("the young").<ref>{{Cite book |last=Christopher Thacker |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=D5s9AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA3 |title=Voltaire |publisher=Taylor & Francis |year=1971 |isbn=978-0-7100-7020-3 |page=3}}</ref> According to a family tradition among the descendants of his sister, he was known as {{lang|fr|le petit volontaire}} ("determined little thing") as a child, and he resurrected a variant of the name in his adult life.{{sfn|Pearson|2005|p=17}} The name also [[Verlan|reverses the syllables]] of [[Airvault]], his family's home town in the [[Poitou]] region.{{sfn|Pearson|2005|p=24}}

[[Richard Holmes (biographer)|Richard Holmes]]<ref>{{Cite book |last=Holmes, Richard |title=Sidetracks: Explorations of a Romantic Biographer |publisher=HarperCollins |year=2000 |pages=345–66}} and "Voltaire's Grin" in ''New York Review of Books'', 30 November 1995, pp. 49–55</ref> supports the anagrammatic derivation of the name, but adds that a writer such as Voltaire would have intended it to also convey connotations of speed and daring. These come from associations with words such as {{lang|fr|[[Equestrian vaulting|voltige]]}} (acrobatics on a trapeze or horse), ''volte-face'' (a spinning about to face one's enemies), and ''volatile'' (originally, any winged creature). "Arouet" was not a noble name fit for his growing reputation, especially given that name's resonance with {{lang|fr|à rouer}} ("to be beaten up") and {{lang|fr|roué}} (a ''débauché'').

In a letter to [[Jean-Baptiste Rousseau]] in March 1719, Voltaire concludes by asking that, if Rousseau wishes to send him a return letter, he do so by addressing it to Monsieur de Voltaire. A postscript explains: "{{lang|fr|J'ai été si malheureux sous le nom d'Arouet que j'en ai pris un autre surtout pour n'être plus confondu avec le poète Roi}}", ("I was so unhappy under the name of Arouet that I have taken another, primarily so as to cease to be confused with the poet Roi.")<ref>[http://www.e-enlightenment.com/item/voltfrVF0850079_1key001cor – "Voltaire to Jean Baptiste Rousseau, c. 1 March 1719"]. Electronic Enlightenment. Ed. Robert McNamee et al. Vers. 2.1. University of Oxford. 2010. Web. 20 June 2010.</ref> This probably refers to [[Adenes le Roi]], and the 'oi' diphthong was then pronounced like modern 'ouai', so the similarity to 'Arouet' is clear, and thus, it could well have been part of his rationale. Voltaire is known also to have used at least 178 separate pen names during his lifetime.<ref>{{Cite book |last=results |first=search |url=https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofpseu00room |title=A Dictionary of Pseudonyms and Their Origins, with Stories of Name Changes, 3rd Edition |year= 1998 |publisher=Mcfarland & Co Inc Pub |isbn=0-7864-0423-X |url-access=registration}}</ref>