Anonymous is the nominal reference that is customarily used for a creator or author who is unknown or gives no name. In the case of very old works, the author's name may simply have been lost over the course of history. In such cases the author is often referred to as Anonymus, the Latin form of "anonymous". In the case of works where the creator's name is kept secret, the author's reasons may vary from fear of persecution to protection of his or her reputation.