The pen name Dr. Seuss wasn't just something Theo Geisel came up with on the spot. Instead, it came to him in pieces, and some of the pieces were pretty easy to come up with. Geisel's full name was Theodor Seuss Geissel, per History, with Seuss being his mother's middle name. Geisel's grandparents were German immigrants and the pronunciation of the name Seuss in German is different, rhyming with the word "choice," as opposed to the Americanized pronunciation we all use today, which rhymes with "loose."
According to the New England Historical Society, when Geisel was a young boy he had a strange experience that involved public humiliation at the hands of former United States President Theodore Roosevelt. Geisel grew up in Springfield, Massachusetts, and during World War I, he became one of the top war bond-selling Boy Scouts in town. (It helped that his grandfather bought $1,000 worth.) He and 10 others were invited to receive awards from Roosevelt. However, the former president was mistakenly only given nine medals, and when he got to Geisel — who was the last one on stage — Roosevelt exclaimed, "What's this boy doing here?" Geisel was rushed off stage and was severely embarrassed,
This made him highly averse to appearing in front of audiences. This may have been a reason he started using a pen name, but the larger truth is he actually started using it out of necessity if he wanted his work published.
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