Which name did Mark Twain use before adopting his pen name?

Before adopting the famous pen name Mark Twain, the author was born Samuel Langhorne Clemens.123

Throughout his early career as a writer and typesetter, he experimented with several other pseudonyms before settling on his permanent pen name. His first known use of a pseudonym occurred in 1852, when he signed a sketch "W. Epaminondas Adrastus Perkins". Other pseudonyms he utilized during his early years included:4

• Thomas Jefferson Snodgrass4
• Quintius Curtius Snodgrass4
• Josh4

He eventually adopted the name "Mark Twain"—a nautical term indicating a water depth of two fathoms—which he drew from his experiences as a riverboat pilot on the Mississippi River.153