L's real name is never mentioned in the Death Note anime or the storyline of the manga, but it is given out in the "How to Read" volume of the manga. I know that a bunch of you know his real name 'cause it's been tossed around on this site a lot in fan art titles and stuff. But for those of you who want to stay spoiler-free, I'll put it in spoiler tags.

There's something that's bugging me about L's real name. His name is L Lawliet. But if that's the case, what the heck does the "L" in "L Lawliet" stand for? I guess there are just some answers that raise more questions than give actual answers.