STENHOUSE is a Scottish geographic surname and according once more to the erudite George F. Black, after the barony in Larbert, Stirlingshire. The first appearance of the name is around 1200 in written records when John de Stanhus acted as witness to a gift.
I once paid for two hours genealogical research of Stenhouse as part of a fund-raising effort. (Actually my husband bought it for me as a birthday gift.) One of the most interesting results was to discover how very male the family was. Right through the 19th century each spur of four, five or six children produced a greater number of males than females.
Another interesting, if useless, factoid was how many of those men married women called Janet. In one case where the man married three wives, two of them were called Janet. Saves embarrassment, I suppose.
Like most Scots families, Stenhouses turn up all over the world. Miners, bankers and Polar explorers float to the surface. i even found a hardback book by a Stenhouse from Newcastle, but the family were in ship-building and had moved from the West coast of Scotland half a generation earlier, when I was looking into arctic issues in the library.
Why use a pseudonym? Well, the other surname is Graham. And my goodness there are a lot of Anne Grahams out there. The publishing house that took one of my plays has one in Dorset, for example. So despite all those 19th century males, I’ve stuck with my maiden name. As yet, there’s been little confusion.
Do you use your own name? What prompted that choice?
Bella’s Betrothal, set in Edinburgh 1826, is on special offer till April 28th. For 99c @ AU http://goo.gl/3yj8U1 .
The rest of the world:
Amazon UK http://goo.gl/P3lmzk US http://goo.gl/7mh8FI AU http://goo.gl/3yj8U1
Kobo http://goo.gl/k0b8SN
MuseItUp http://goo.gl/f0zFKa
/apple itunes https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/id713274218
smashwords https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/355001
Novels Now 
Yes, I’ve decided to use my maiden name – McAlpine for my children’s book (coming out in May) in order to keep that author identity separate from the name I use when writing for adults which is my married name – Stormont.
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Hi Anne, It’s really good to keep such separate genres, separate. Will look out for the McAlpine line. anne
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