List of fictitious people

This article lists the fictitious people, i.e., Nonexistent people, which, unlike fictional people, are those somebody has claimed to actually exist. Usually this is done for purposes of practical joke or hoax, but sometimes for purposes of committing fraud or as a pseudonym. Sometimes the line between the two categories is blurred, e.g., as in the case of Abdul Alhazred.

Hoaxes

• Abdul Alhazred, author of the equally fictitious Necronomicon created by H. P. Lovecraft. His pseudobiography was published in A History of the Necronomicon.
• William Ashbless, a 19th-century fictitious poet and adventurer
• Bilitis, nonexistent Ancient Greek poet. Supposed author of The Songs of Bilitis, a collection of erotic poetry "discovered" by Pierre Louÿs.
• Harry Q. Bovik, eternal Carnegie Mellon computer science researcher
• George P. Burdell, eternal Georgia Tech student
• Eddie Burrup, fake Australian aboriginal painter
• Allegra Coleman, nonexistent supermodel
• Helen Demidenko, nonexistent Ukrainian author, created by Australian writer Helen Darville
• Anthony Godby Johnson, (probably) fictitious author of Rock and a Hard Place : One Boy's Triumphant Story
• Kilroy, a nonexistent legendary World War II US army major who inspired millions during the war and became part of American popular culture.
• Ern Malley, nonexistent Australian poet, created by Australian poets James McAuley and Harold Stewart
• Piotr Zak, nonexistent Polish composer, created for a BBC programme by Hans Keller and others
• Georg Paul Thomann, nonexistent Austrian conceptual artist, created by art group monochrom to represent Austria at the 2002 Sao Paulo Art Biennial. Georg Paul Thomann is featured in RE/Search's "Pranks 2" book.

Pseudonyms

This list includes pseudonyms supplied with a biography suggesting the existence of a person distinct from the actual person with the pseudonym in question, often with the purpose of a hoax.

See also Collective pseudonyms (many of them were not claimed as "real" people).

• Nicolas Bourbaki, a 20th century French mathematician with credited publications
• Kozma Prutkov, nonexistent Russian writer
• Lemony Snicket, pseudonym of Daniel Handler and character in Handler's (or "Snicket's") Series of Unfortunate Events
• Gerald Wiley, pseudonym used by comedy performer and writer Ronnie Barker so that his sketches would be judged on merit.

Arts & entertainment

• David J. Broadfoot, the Member of Parliament from Kicking Horse Pass, representing the New Apathetic Party, a character played by Canadian comedian Dave Broadfoot.
• Dame Edna Everage, a character played by Australian comedian Barry Humphries
• Borat Sagdiyev, a fictitious Kazakhstani journalist created by Sacha Baron Cohen, see also Ali G and Bruno
• Rusty Shackelford, pseudonym of Dale Gribble from the animated program King of the Hill.
• Sven - occasional stand in for Samantha, above, on BBC radio comedy I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue.
• Gerald Bostock, writer of the lyrics for the Jethro Tull album Thick as a Brick.
• Ponsonby Britt executive producer of The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show. In the credits of George of the Jungle, a later offering from the same production company, "Britt" had been promoted to "Ponsonby Britt OBE" (recipient of the Order of the British Empire).
• Margaret B. Jones, fictitious half white, half Native American foster child and Bloods gang member in South Central Los Angeles
• Andreas Karavis, nonexistent Greek poet
• Donald Kaufman, fictional brother of Adaptation writer Charlie Kaufman, gained "writing credits" and co-won an Oscar
• Kobuk, nonexistent Inuit author and playwright (invented by the Austrian comedian Helmut Qualtinger)
• Wanda Koolmatrie, nonexistent Australian aboriginal author
• JT LeRoy, fictional American author and literary celebrity.
• David Manning, a nonexistent film critic created by Sony Corporation.
• Jeremy McNeil, fictional film writer/ director credited with several independent film productions.
• S. Morgenstern, fictional author from the equally fictional country of Florin
• Nat Tate, fake 1950's American artist
• B. Traven, adventure novelist
• Mrs. Trellis of North Wales - regular correspondent to BBC radio comedy I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue
• Kilgore Trout Fake author of "Venus on the Halfshell". Created by Kurt Vonnegut. Book written by Philip Jose Farmer
• Hajime Yadate, credited as the creator of most of the anime works of Japanese animation studio Sunrise.
• Van den Budenmayer, nonexistent Dutch composer believed to be real by some filmgoers even after they were told the truth
• Ossian, Irish bard created by McPherson in the XIX century
• Milli Vanilli

Academia

• Jára da Cimrman, fictional Czech genius and polymath
• Honorable J. Fortescue, fake US physician
• Dr. Irving Joshua Matrix, numerologist, invented by Martin Gardner
• Josiah Carberry, professor of psychoceramics at Brown University

Unclassified

Please help in putting them into appropriate sections.

• Carl Brandon, a fictional fan of color, for whom the Carl Brandon Society was named
• Betty Crocker, fake spokesperson for The Washburn Crosby Company of Minneapolis
• Sidd Finch, nonexistent baseball prodigy created by George Plimpton for an April Fool's Day prank.
• Kodee Kennings, nonexistent 8-year-old girl whose letters were published in the Daily Egyptian, a student newspaper for Southern Illinois University Carbondale
• Chimezie Kudu, nonexistent 7-foot-11 basketball player (ESPN.com readers' responses)
• Claude Émile Jean-Baptiste Litre, volumetric namesake.
• Andrew MacDonald, a pseudonym for William Luther Pierce, white supremacist and author of The Turner Diaries
• Kaycee Nicole, fictional leukemia sufferer and Internet personality
• Henry Root, fictitious correspondent, and Henry Raddick (possibly the same person)
• H. Rochester Sneath, nonexistent headmaster of the nonexistent Selhurst School
• Udo of Aachen, fictional monk
• Edna Welthorpe, nonexistent morality campaigner
• Araki Yasusada, fake Hiroshima survivor and author

References