Why did Catullus use the name Lesbia for his lover?

Catullus used the pseudonym "Lesbia" for his lover as a tribute to Sappho, the renowned poetess from the Aegean island of Lesbos.1

His choice of the name reflects his admiration for her work; he notably used Sapphic metres in some of his poems and even paraphrased one of her compositions. By adopting this name, Catullus linked his own expressions of intense, personal passion to the literary tradition established by Sappho. While the identity of the woman behind the pseudonym remains uncertain, it is widely believed by scholars to be a pseudonym for a woman named Clodia.123