The Brontë sisters shared the pseudonymous surname Bell. Charlotte wrote as Currer Bell, Emily as Ellis Bell and Anne as Acton Bell.
The sisters adopted these names when they published Poems by Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell in 1846. Their chosen first names preserved their initials—C for Charlotte, E for Emily and A for Anne—while the masculine-sounding names helped conceal their sex from publishers and readers. At the time, they worried that women writers might be judged unfairly.
The Bell names stayed attached to their major novels: Jane Eyre appeared under Currer Bell, Wuthering Heights under Ellis Bell and Agnes Grey under Acton Bell. The books' success eventually led to speculation that the three “Bell” authors might actually be related or even one person.
Charlotte and Anne travelled to London in 1848 to prove their identities to publisher George Smith. Charlotte later publicly revealed the sisters' real names. Bell is therefore the shared surname, while Currer, Ellis and Acton are the distinct pseudonymous first names.