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Why did Alissa Rosenbaum adopt the name Ayn Rand after arriving in the United States?
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Ayn Rand
American writer Ayn Rand, 1962.
Alissa Rosenbaum adopted the name Ayn Rand upon arriving in the United States in 1926 to establish a new identity. She explained that her new first name, which rhymes with "pine," was inspired by a Finnish writer whose identity she never disclosed. Her new surname, Rand, was described by the author as an abbreviation of her original family name, Rosenbaum.1