A very common type of pseudonym, especially in the Renaissance, was a Latinisation. Examples include:

 - *René Descartes* becomes *Renatus Cartesius*;
 - *Mikołaj Kopernik* becomes *Nicolaus Copernicus*;
 - *Geert de Kremer* becomes *Gerardus Mercator*;
 - *Willebrord Snel van Royen* ('Snell') becomes *Willebrord Snellius*.

(Mathematics was not as well-established as a single profession at the time, and most of the people listed were active in many fields of science. A true Renaissance scientist is a polymath.)

**Remark.** For some reason, this practice seems to have been especially popular in the Low Countries. This is somewhat remarkable, given that (following Simon Stevin, another Renaissance scientist) the Dutch language dropped Latin and Greek loanwords like *subtract*, *multiply*, and even *mathematics* itself, in favour of the Dutch words *aftrekken*, *vermenigvuldigen*, and *wiskunde*. There are very few European languages that have their own word for *mathematics*.

**Remark.** One may argue that a Latinisation does not constitute a pseudonym, but if we translate *pseudonym* literally as *false name*, then any name deviating from a person's actual [legal] name can be considered a pseudonym.