Some people think that Samuel Langhorne Clemens adopted the pen name Mark Twain because of all the teasing over his middle name, Longhorn for Langhorne, which in mid-19th century Missouri meant penis. This reason is, of course, a legend. Actually, he adopted Mark Twain because of the puns people made on his last name Clemens, as in show her some clemency, Sam, by which they meant don’t bang her too hard and so forth.
