The Connection Between Dr. Seuss, Rosetta Stone, and Theo LeSieg

Theodor "Ted" Seuss Geisel wrote more than 60 children's books and became one of the most famous children's authors of all time. He used a few pen names, but his most popular one is a household name: Dr. Seuss. He penned a number of books under other names, such as Theo LeSieg and Rosetta Stone.

Early Pen Names

When he first began writing and illustrating children's books, Theodor Geisel combined "Dr." and "Seuss," his middle name, which was also his mother's maiden name, to create the pseudonym "Dr. Seuss."

He started the practice of using a pseudonym when he was in college and he was stripped of his editorial privileges for the school's humor magazine, the "Jack-O-Lantern." Geisel then began publishing under aliases, such as L. Pasteur, D.G. Rossetti '25, T. Seuss, and Seuss.

Once he left school and became a magazine cartoonist, he began signing his work as “Dr. Theophrastus Seuss” in 1927. Although he did not finish his doctorate in literature at Oxford as he had hoped, he still decided to shorten his pen name to “Dr. Seuss” in 1928.

Pronunciation of Seuss

In acquiring his new pseudonym, he also gained a new pronunciation for his family name. Most Americans pronounced the name "Soose," rhyming with "Goose." The correct pronunciation is actually "Zoice,"  rhyming with "Voice."

One of his friends, Alexander Liang, created a Seuss-like poem about how people were mispronouncing Seuss:

You’re wrong as the deuce
And you shouldn’t rejoice
If you’re calling him Seuss.
He pronounces it Soice (or Zoice).

Geisel embraced the Americanized pronunciation (his mother's family was Bavarian) because of its close correlation to famed children's "author" Mother Goose. Apparently, he also added the "Doctor (abbreviated Dr.)" to his pen name because his father had always wanted him to practice medicine.

Later Pen Names

He used Dr. Seuss for children's books that he both wrote and illustrated. Theo LeSieg (Geisel spelled backward) is another name he used for books he wrote. Most of the LeSieg books were illustrated by someone else. Rosetta Stone is a pseudonym he used when he worked with Philip D. Eastman. "Stone" is an homage to his wife Audrey Stone.

Books Written Under Different Pen Names

Most Famous Books

Seuss' top-selling books and best-known titles include "Green Eggs and Ham," "The Cat in the Hat," "One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish," and "Dr. Seuss's ABC."

Many of Seuss' books have been adapted for television and film and inspired animated series. Popular titles to hit the silver screen included "How the Grinch Stole Christmas," "Horton Hears a Who," and "The Lorax."