Question: I am in the midst of writing my second [NaNo](http://www.nanowrimo.org) novel, and I have encountered a problem I didn't anticipate. It is similar to this question, about [changing a character's name](https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/5292/how-best-to-handle-revealing-a-main-characters-name-midway-through-a-long-story) in the middle of a story, but the situation in my story is different enough that I think it will need a different answer.

In the first part of the story, we meet the protagonist, Nicene. After a second part (which isn't written yet), she is discovered unconscious on the streets by Shadow. During this period, the story is from Shadow's point of view and she is 'the woman'. After she regains consciousness, she tells him that her name is Cherry, and so the narrative continues with her named as Cherry. The trouble is, I am sliding back into her point of view, but I haven't let the reader know that this woman is actually Nicene. 

I don't really want it to be a surprise *to the reader* when they find out who she is, so I have made several connections between the prior part and the current part, and Shadow has made it obvious that he doesn't believe that Cherry is her real name. I am on the verge of revealing her honorifics, which are important and should be a surprise, but might also further confuse the reader.

I am stuck on how to transition from the viewpoint of someone who doesn't know her real name ('Cherry') back to her ('Nicene'), because Nicene certainly doesn't think of herself as Cherry—that's just an alter ego—but the reader might not have realized who she really is.

Is there a good way of handling this?

Answer: 
There are many stories where characters take on false names. In the dialogue, this person goes by the fake name. In the narrative (the part of the text not directly quoted from the speech of the characters) the person goes by the true name. No confusion for the reader about who this person is, because the true name always stays the same.

> 
> "Hello, my name is Sandy," Paula said.
> 
> 
> 

Why can you not do this?
My first instinct would be to abstain from writing from Cherry's perspective until her identity is revealed, thereby making her more of a mystery character. Since Nicene is the protagonist, however, that probably won't work, unless you have a second protagonist to focus on during that time.

I recommend using the name Cherry when writing from her perspective, but as Dale Emery suggests in his answer, use her thoughts to reveal to the reader that this is not her real name. You could write things like, "Cherry, as Shadow calls her, ..." or "The woman known to Shadow as Cherry ..."

Incidentally, there is a very good example of such a character in [Abaddon's Gate](http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0316129070) by James SA Corey. When writing from this character's perspective, the authors have her refer to herself by her fake name, while making it clear to the reader that this name is indeed fake without revealing her true identity. I think this technique can work regardless of the character's own level of investment in the name.