The Mystery of Edward John’s Real Identity May Never Be Solved

As the writer who created him, this makes me feel liberated

This is not Edward John. This is Sam Williams.

Nobody on Medium knows my real identity.

Edward John is a fictional character. It’s not my real name, and that’s not a photo of me. It’s a stock photo that I turned purple and orange using Canva. I don’t really have a purply-orange face.

I like that nobody on here knows who I really am. It gives me freedom.

But actually, my Medium name does relate to my real full name. But only people who know me well in real life would spot the connection. There’s a fun sense of “hiding in plain sight” to that. It’s like I’m wearing a distorted replica of my own face as a mask.

All names are made up anyway. Like when Wikipedia says that Eckhart Tolle was born Ulrich Leonard Tölle, that is nonsense. Nobody is born with a name. We are born nameless and then given a name.

And which is more valid: a name given to someone at the beginning of their life, without asking them, or a name they later choose for themselves?

For many years, I hated my real first name. Too unusual and ugly-sounding. The irony is, these days, I don’t mind it, but I’m still not using it here.