How did 'Alan Smithee' get his name?

I got to know about the term "Alan Smithee", used for the alias of uncredited work in movies. But why is it called Alan Smithee and not anything else? Where does that name come from?

credits alan-smithee

Best Answer

According to this article. I guess they just wanted a simple name, that wouldn't draw too much attention.

The original proposal was to credit the fictional "Al Smith", but that was deemed too common a name, and in fact was already in use within the film industry. The last name was first changed to "Smithe," then "Smithee,"1 which was thought to be distinctive enough to avoid confusion, but without drawing attention to itself.

Another quote of interest:

The spelling "Alan Smithee" became the standard, and the Internet Movie Database lists about two dozen feature films and many more television features and series episodes credited to this name. A persistent urban legend suggests that this particular spelling was chosen because it is an anagram of the phrase "the alias men"; however, this is apocryphal at best.