Murasaki refers to both the heroine of the Genji Monogatari (The Tale of Genji), and the book's author, Murasaki Shikibu. Curiously, in both cases the name is a pseudonym, and the real names are unknown. In the court manners of the time (the Heian Period), it was considered unacceptably familiar and blunt to freely address people by their names. As a result the real name of the author is not known, and she is nicknamed after the heroine she invented. Similarly, most of the characters in the novel are never identified by name. The author Murasaki was a lady in waiting to the Empress Shoshi (a daughter of the powerful Fujiwara Michinaga). She was a literary contempary and rival of Sei Shonagon. She was a middle class aristocrat and the daughter of a pronvincial governor. The lady in the novel is commonly named Murasaki in translations, to make the novel more comprehensible to those unfamiliar with Heian era court manners. The name is inspired by a poem Genji composes when contemplating his first meeting with her.