As far as pen names go, would it be better for a pen name to reflect my ethnic origins the way my real name does or should I use something that sounds generically Anglo-Saxon? I feel like the latter would be more accessible but the first feels more honest??
You are free to do what makes you most comfortable and happy, of course -- but there is no need to whitewash your own cultural identity or heritage just to please random strangers.
If you were a rando white person who wanted to take on an "ethnic sounding" name in order to mislead people into assuming you were from a culture not your own -- that'd be cultural appropriation, and gross to say the least.
The reverse isn't true. There is a long, long history of people with complicated or so-called "weird"*** names changing them to something ostensibly "prettier" or easier for strangers to pronounce or remember, more "mainstream", etc etc. That goes for both entertainers and authors as well as regular folks going through Ellis Island or whatever. Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski became Joseph Conrad, English-language literary novelist. Archibald Leach became Cary Grant, Hollywood star. So-and-so Broniewski became So-and-so Brown.
That's NOT appropriation, that's more like assimilation.
And fair enough -- listen, obviously there's still racism and xenophobia in this country - can you imagine coming to the US or UK in the 1910's or 20's and wanting to, say, open a store or write for a newspaper or be in a movie or whatever with a lengthy and/or unusual and/or difficult to pronounce foreign-language name? Sadly, you probably would not have gotten past the front desk.
The thing is, this is not the 1920s -- while I'm not saying America is perfect now by any stretch, at least I DO think mainstream Whitemericans are much more used to and appreciative of Interesting Names these days than they used to be.
Meanwhile, it's not just Whitemericans who buy books. People of all cultures and creeds read books. Representation matters! Maybe kids with your cultural background haven't seen many awesome authors from wherever-you're-from with your less-usual kind of name. Maybe your success will make them feel seen. That's cool!
The Whitemericans who you presumably want to appeal to -- those who are nice and buy books -- won't care. (On the other hand, the type of a-holes who would discriminate against or make fun of somebody's name are probably not big readers anyway, so to heck with them!)
All of which is to say: You have every right to use a pen-name that is meaningful to you and reflects your own heritage/culture if you want to do that, and there's no particular reason not to. Especially if you are writing books that are set in or around that culture! Like -- you have legit claim to that identity -- you aren't pulling a Yellowface here.
BUT, if you WANT to pick an "Anglo-Saxon" kind of a name for whatever reason -- (Maybe your books have nothing to do with your cultural identity at all and you just want something that sounds "Romance Novel"-ish, or maybe you have a lengthy name and want one that is easier to sign, or maybe you want to hide your cultural identity because you have family in the Old Country who might get in trouble for your work -- I don't know!) -- that's fine, too.
Just know that, while it's VERY VERY common to have a pen-name, it's usually for general "privacy" or "I don't really like my given name" reasons, and authors often choose a name that is pretty close to their actual name, but a nickname or a family name or something like that, or something that is meaningful but "sounds better" to them.
I think, these days, choosing a VERY different generic Anglo-Saxon name for purely "culture-hiding" reasons would be somewhat a less common choice, and it's quite unlikely any publisher would EXPECT or DEMAND that you hide your culture in that way.
*** I put "scare quotes" around certain words here, like "ethnic sounding" and "weird" and "prettier" and "mainstream" -- because I don't think any names actually ARE any of those things per se, but some people might say they are.
