Forget the eternal question “Is there a God?” This Straight Dope seems unwilling to answer the question of Cecil’s actual existence. The best they give is a link to an article in a Chicago newspaper about this question.
“Cecil Adams” is the nom de plume of the person (or persons) who writes (or write) the Straight Dope column fot the Chicago Reader. The Reader publically acknowledged that the name was ficticious when they unsuccessfully attempted to register it as a trademark. You can read the appellate decision affirming the denial at In re Chicago Reader Inc., 12 USPQ 2d. 1079 (TTAB 1989). There has been speculation that the writer or writers currently writing the Straight Dope are an admin or admins at this message board.
ETA: or what he said, either way. 
It’s Ed Zotti. By everything I’ve ever read, anyway. Not a real person, to answer your question.
I’ve met Ed Zotti, and he seemed pretty real to me.
If you’re not particular, there’s lots of them.
He seemed like a real Cecil Adams? Because that’s the question we’re answering here.
Who would we compare him to to see if he seems like a real Cecil Adams?
Well, if Ed Zotti is the real Cecil Adams, then we should compare him with Ed Zotti.
Therefore, if Ed Zotti is like Ed Zotti, then he’s Cecil Adams. It’s an elementary logical syllogism.
Lol, that’s some deep dope man. . . Are you really arguing that Cecil Adams is actually Ed Zotti ?
The columns don’t write themselves.
Anyway, I wouldn’t say that Cecil is a person, exactly. More like a force of nature.
But he’s not a trademark, as cited above.
Signed,
Leo BloomTM
My best guess is that “Cecil Adams” is a brand name and there is a staff of writers who create content for that brand. Probably headed by Ed Zotti.
A collective pseudonym, then, like Franklin W. Dixon (“Hardy Boys”) or Carolyn Keene (“Nancy Drew”, “Dana Girls”).
The only people who can provide an authoritative answer on this topic are the people who work directly with Cecil every week, like me, or Cecil himself.
Yes I know what the evidence points to. Yes, I’m being purposefully pedantic and nitpicky.
maybe Benjamin Gates can get on this mystery.
A staff of writers to write a single weekly column? Doesn’t sound very cost effective to me.
I am. I have. I will.
We know. You never pass up an opportunity to tell us.
The staff write staff reports. Or at least, they do when Dex manages to crack the whip hard enough. With how hard it is to get them to write when they’re getting credit for it, how much harder would it be to get them to write uncredited work?
Cecil Adams is a single being. He does occasionally get significant input from staff members in the column, but whenever that happens, it’s always credited as such. He’s also the only one writing on this site who ever gets paid more than a coffee mug and a few calendars for it.