Which title did Fitzgerald choose in 1924 before The Great Gatsby became final?

The title Fitzgerald chose in 1924 before settling on The Great Gatsby was Trimalchio in West Egg.

Fitzgerald drew the name Trimalchio from Petronius’s Satyricon, where Trimalchio is an ostentatious former slave who hosts extravagant banquets. The comparison suited Jay Gatsby, whose wealth, parties, and uncertain social standing make him a modern upstart. Fitzgerald even refers to Gatsby as Trimalchio within the novel.

By November 1924, Fitzgerald told his editor Maxwell Perkins that he had settled on Trimalchio in West Egg. Perkins disliked the title because the classical reference seemed obscure and difficult to pronounce. Zelda Fitzgerald and Perkins preferred The Great Gatsby, and Fitzgerald accepted that title the following month.

He continued reconsidering alternatives—including Gold-Hatted Gatsby and Under the Red, White, and Blue—even after the manuscript was nearly ready. Scribner’s ultimately published The Great Gatsby on April 10, 1925, making the abandoned Trimalchio title an important part of the novel’s publication history.