Stalin, Lenin, and Trotsky were all pseudonyms.

You’ve probably never heard of Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili, Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, or Lev Davidovich Bronstein — except you actually have. Those three men are known to the world as Joseph Stalin, Vladimir Lenin, and Leon Trotsky, respectively. 

All three Soviet leaders used pseudonyms dating back to their time as revolutionaries, when they often found themselves on the wrong side of the law — which, after Russia’s October Revolution, was no longer the law. But you can’t go back to being Norma Jeane Mortenson once everyone thinks your real name is Marilyn Monroe, and so the troika lived the rest of their lives under their assumed names.

Stalin adopted his moniker, which means “Man of Steel,” in 1912 (beating Superman to the punch by well over two decades). Lenin’s etymology is less definitive, with different theories suggesting it might have been inspired by the Lena River, the name printed on a fake passport he received when he fled the country, or even a reference to a Leo Tolstoy novel featuring a character with the last name Olenin. Trotsky, meanwhile, is said to have made a spur-of-the-moment decision and adopted the name of the head jailer at the Odessa prison where he was incarcerated for two years.