What was the birth name of the French Enlightenment writer known as Voltaire?

The French Enlightenment writer known as Voltaire was born François-Marie Arouet. He was born in Paris in 1694 and later adopted the name Voltaire as his literary identity.

Arouet began using “Voltaire” in 1718, after his imprisonment in the Bastille. The precise origin of the pen name remains uncertain. It may be connected to a rearrangement of the letters in “Arouet l[e] j[eune],” a Latinized form of his surname, or to the name Airvault, associated with his family.

Under the name Voltaire, he became one of Europe’s most prolific and influential writers. He produced plays, poetry, essays, histories, philosophical works, and fiction, including the famous novella Candide. His writing often attacked religious intolerance, censorship, and abuses of political power.

Readers sometimes confuse Voltaire with other Enlightenment thinkers such as Rousseau or Diderot. François-Marie Arouet is Voltaire’s birth name; “Voltaire” is the adopted pen name under which his major literary and philosophical career became famous.