He supposedly selected it from living in a family (Harrell) home in Austin, TX, and calling for the family cat, "OH, Henry!" He lived in Austin from 1884 until 1887, ten years before his incarceration in Ohio. I just found that information on a site but didn't write down which one I DID find it on. Correct or not, it is fun, don't you think?
Charles Henry Smith's pen name was Bill Arp.
O Henry
Josh Billings
herriot
James Tiptree, Jr.,
O Henry. however, this was just his pen name that he was known by.
Mr.James' pen.
O. Henry chose this pen name as a way to maintain his anonymity while writing stories for magazines. The "O" was taken from his first name, Oliver, and "Henry" is a common English surname. He wanted to keep his true identity secret in order to have more creative freedom in his writing.
William Sydney Porter, who used the pen name O. Henry, was born in Greensburough North Carolina on September 11, 1862
He married Joan Catherine Anderson (with a pen name of Helen.)
The "Oh Henry!" candy bar has a name very similar to O. Henry, the pen name of short-story writer William Sydney Porter. The candy bar was invented by Tom Henry.
O. Henry, the pen name for William Sydney Porter, had one child, a daughter named Margaret.