What pseudonym did Charlotte Brontë use?

Charlotte Brontë used the pseudonym Currer Bell.

Charlotte adopted the name when she and her sisters published Poems by Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell in 1846. The three pseudonyms preserved their initials: Charlotte became Currer, Emily became Ellis and Anne became Acton. The masculine-sounding names helped the sisters avoid the prejudice often directed at women writers in Victorian publishing.

Charlotte later used Currer Bell for her novels. Jane Eyre was published under the name Currer Bell in 1847 and became an immediate success, although readers and critics debated the author’s identity and gender. Charlotte, Emily and Anne publicly revealed that the Bell names belonged to them in 1848.

The names are easy to mix up. Ellis Bell was Emily Brontë, the author of Wuthering Heights, while Acton Bell was Anne Brontë, the author of Agnes Grey and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. Currer Bell therefore identifies Charlotte, not Emily or Anne.