The concept of "true names"

Hello. I am rereading Eragon right now and I just noticed something. I know that Eragon borrows a lot of concepts from existing fantasy titles. One of which is the concept of an ancient language being the language of magic.

Le Guin's Earthsea uses this concept. In Earthsea, there's the Old Speech. And each thing and being in the world has a true name in this language. And that name binds the thing or being. So, people have true names, and one can have power over the other by using his true name.

This is exactly how it is in Eragon also.

Now, my questions are:

Would you know if this concept is derived from ancient myths/legends? Or was it Le Guin who first made this concept?

And would you know of other fantasy titles that use this concept?

Thanks in advance for your input!

The idea that name=power and the use of secret names go back to the Old Testament. Adam had the power to name the animals, and so had some power over them. The Roman naming system had 'private' (family) names and public names partly because of this idea. European cultures gave babies secret names and used nicknames for them in infancy to protect them from harm. Native American cultures gave multiple names to children. Myth and legend use the idea - Rumplestiltskin, Tom Tit Tot - and it turns up as a feature of many literary works long before Le Guin. She's tapping into a lot of history.

I wrote a long piece for an exam once about 'translation' and identity (in response to Brian Friel's Translations, which is about the imposition of English on Ireland), using Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream's 'Bless thee Bottom, thou art translated' as a jumping off point. I wish I'd kept it. :-)

Wow, this is great! Thanks for the enlightenment.

Yes, I wish you had kept it too. It would have been an interesting read. =)

Hey, if you know of a specific myth/legend that cites this (for example, a story in the mabinogion or something), could you direct me to it?

I'd love to explore this concept more.

Thanks, BoPeep.

I mean, aside from Rumpelstiltskin and Tom Tit Tot =) Will look those up now ;-)

I cut myself off mid-thought earlier. The play (Translations) might be good reading for you, as it deals with renaming and power wielded over identity, among other things. It's a modern piece (set in the first half of the 19th century) but a critical edition should send you off in the right direction for older uses of the concept.

If I can figure out what I did with my notes from back then I'll see if I can find a proper bibliography for you.

Meanwhile, I'd suggest googling for 'secret names' and 'culture' and seeing where that takes you. :-)

I will do that! =) Thanks again!!

Check out any Celtic - especially Irish/Welsh - mythology and legends that you can, that's a big concept in a lot of that..
As far as fantasy goes - check out Charles de Lint's Moonheart and you'll catch a little bit about true names, and as far as real-world application, ever notice the power it has over you when your mother calls you by your full true name? You stop and listen..

"as far as real-world application, ever notice the power it has over you when your mother calls you by your full true name? You stop and listen.."

Too true, Quinesti =)

Thank you so much for the recommendations. I'll definitely look them up.

Hi There,

The Amulet of Samarkand and the rest of the Bartimaeus Trilogy use this concept too, the characters within the story never reveal their true(Birth) names, as this would give enemies power over them, so they are given a title instead. I don't have a great deal of information on the subject, other than the whole Adam thing mentioned, however I am interested in it and will be looking at anything posted here.

The Bartimaeus Trilogy is worth looking into even if you aren't interested in this, it's light hearted most of the time, and very well written.

I'm suprised no one has yet mentioned Vernor Vinge's contribution. The importance of hiding your true name on a future internet (which did not exist in 1981 when he wrote it). title "True Names".

Fortunately none of you know who ringman is!

I just finally remembered the books that use this concept that have been on the tip of my brain for a week.

I'm fairly sure Juniper/Wise Child by Monica Furlong talk about knowing true names and that giving you power over people, although it's been a while since I've read them, so I could be getting that wrong. They're a good read anyways, though.

Oh, and Island of the Blue Dolphins definitely mentions the true name/common-use name distinction, but fairly briefly.

Ringman - "none of you know who ringman is" IF you want that to be true, I'd take your full name off your profile!

I don't recall anythign prior to le Guin, but I've not read much earlier than that.

The Keepers Chronicles* by Tanya Huff deal with this, too. There's a (evil) woman in a coma who can only be awoken if her name is spoken, and one of the characters gives her name to her enemy to try to establish trust. An interesting topic, and now my "to be read" pile is getting bigger...

*Summon the Keeper
The Second Summoning
A Long, Hot Summoning

This concept also appears in the Kushiel series, when Phedre speaks the true name of the sea god to rescue Hyacinthe.

True names were a major theme in Egyptian mythology as well. RA the sun god had to travel through darkness each night and fend off monsters. The only reason the monsters couldnt hurt him was because he knew their true names. In another myth Isis becomes the second most powerful diety in Egypt after she tricks Ra into telling her his true name and thus gains power over him as well.

hey i just saw an earlier post and it mad me think of this but we're doing the true name thing right now with our screen names. There aren't many people out there that use their entire real name online, mostly because you want to not give out too much identifying information about yourself online so what do we do we create "public" screen names to use online to protect our true name.

As has previously been mentioned true names are common in lots of places. Although not necessarily directly influencing many fantasy writers, a lot of the magic books have summoning things requiring true names - Aleister Crowley for example, and Dr. Dee both touch on it.

In the opposite mode the Malleus Maleficarum talks about someone who was protected from demonic influence because he'd heard a sermon about the name of god and was meditating about it on his way home from church - just meditating about god's name was enough to protect him.

If you're of a mindset to believe in curses etc. as powerful, actually dangerous entities hiding your true name so they can't hit you makes a lot of sense. If you're of a rationalising mindset it makes accounting for some mysterious deaths a lot easier within their culture. Why did young adult Y die but not old adult Z. Today we'd talk about acquired immunity (protecting from the 'flu after WWI say for Y and Z), or EBV being an immunosuppresant (causing glandular fever and much more common in young adults) but without (or despite) that sort of knowledge saying "Oh Y must have revealed her secret name" gives a handle for rationalising it away.

There's lots of fun and games with hunting for it like that... but it makes a nice bit of fantasy writing too - gives those wizards something to look up in all their mysterious tomes!

There is another series that uses the concept of True Names, though i cannot remember who it is by or what the books are called... Time for a google search.

Aha! Susan Cooper and her The Dark is Rising series utilize the concept of true names, if I remember correctly, as well as an ancient language which holds power.

The final Promethea, or the final chapter of book five, deals a lot with a potted history of magic, and the ideas (both ancient and modern) that thinking about things requires a name for them, thus, at first, language was a magical act.

There's quite a bit more to it and the whole series is well worth a read, but that bit particularly resonated with this thread.

Demon the Fallen Trilogy by White Wolf Publishing in their World of Darkness uses the True Name ideas as well as some of the Mage fiction.

Wait, Promethea book 5 came out???? Shit, I've been waiting for that.

re: Wait, Promethea book 5 came out???? Shit, I've been waiting for that.

It's not only out, I've read it! Go - buy, read!

Elizabeth Hayden's Rhapsody series also deals a lot with true names.

In the Alison Croggon
series they also talk a lot about true names and ancient languages with power

When I think of the concept of an ancient language being the language of magic, I can't help but think of the medieval Catholic Church as a real-life example. Most common names also have deeper meanings in older languages, leading would-be parents to carefully choose a child's name.

Another fantasy series which uses the "true name" concept is the mascot of this group-- Andre Norton's Witch World.

yes talking of catholics choosing their name with care was anyone really suprised when Bishop Lucifer of Calaris turned out to be a rather intolerant sort?

#24 leading would-be parents to carefully choose a child's name.

Would that that were true! We'd have no female Madisons, far fewer Camerons (do you really want to call your child 'crooked nose'?), Dolores would be out for all but the most 'emo', we'd get rid of all those Taylors and Masons and Woodcutters (oh, no, I dreamed that one. But still.)

I recommend Baby's Named A Bad Bad Thing for all those who have previously missed it.

Some of the things I've found neat are to go delve back into some of my more favorite books and look up the unusual names I've seen for minor characters.. Seems the authors have taken care for those names to get as much effect as possible.. I've seen the name 'Ahern' in two different novels I've read, and the meaning of the name is 'horse lord', and it fits both characters..

Well, it's 'Lord of the Horse' in Irish, but it's (apparently) 'sexy' in Japanese... as an English surname it's also a variant of Herne, which comes from '(person living on) a bend in the road or a nook or corner of land'. So it's hard to be absolutely sure which meaning fits which character on every occasion...

Mmm, yes, though it's almost exclusively Lord of the Horse when I see it.. especially in fantasy I think on those counts a lot of writers tend toward Irish/Celtic meanings..

I remember when I was little and I was always hearing "Never accept candy from a stranger, and never give them your social security number". I had no idea what a social security number was but I imagined it was like the "true names" in fairy tales. I was all worried about the people who were in charge of "Social Security" (whatever that was) knowing it.

LOL Irene - I am always baffled by that one too when I hear it from American friends.

The UK has National Insurance numbers as an equivalent and while we don't throw them around liberally (they don't get used for ID purposes for banks or anything like that) there's almost nothing someone could do maliciously with an NI number alone anyway (what, are you going to pay my pension credits for me?), so the paranoia seems OTT to me.

In the USA, Social Security numbers are the unique IDs for all your credit. While they aren't supposed to be used for ID, all banks and most utilities require their use. Unfortunately, it's relatively easy to do harm to someone's credit if given access to the Social Security number.

Yes, I do understand that. I am just baffled by the mixed messages that sends - don't give it to people, but give it to people if you want anything done.

For similar reasons, I'm always surprised at the (secure) shopping websites and over-the-phone purchases that insist I give the three-figure security code that's printed on the back of my credit or debit card - that's supposed to be guarded but if you have to give it out to everyone how exactly is it secure?

And don't start me on "I'm not signing my credit card so that cashiers will have to ask me for ID"... (I read a lot of US-based blogs and LJ communities).

I think that the Dalemark Quartet (Cart and Cwidder, Drowned Ammet, The Spellcoats, and The Crown of Dalemark) by Diana Wynne Jones uses this idea of true names having power, to an extent. (It's been a while since I've read them.) I'm pretty sure other books of hers may also involve names having power, but not as much as the quartet. However, I don't think any of them involve a true language, only people's names.

i know TS Eliot wrote a poem giving cats three names, one of which was theirs to never tell. It was a special name only the cat knew.
i'm not sure if TS Eliot was a fan of fantasy but i dont think the idea of names = power is confined to fantasy.

i know the Gaelic and Celtic peoples believed certain names had power. maybe its a truly ancient belief....

Names are very important in a lot of cultures, they're just so prevalent in Celtic myth that that's where they show up, but to have power over the Eldritch peoples you had to know their true name, and it was easier for them, especially the Unseelie Court, to have power over you if you let them know your true name.. So many fantasy writers tend to derive a lot from Celtic myth and culture which is why it shows up with those roots so often..
But even the Jews and Christians have that with their creation myths in Genesis, where the guy names all the animals and plants and such (No expert here), but if that weren't significant then I doubt it would be mentioned..

#37 - God commands Man to name all the animals. Its the VRERY VERY FIRST commandmant from God to Man. One we are still only slowly forfulling. There and awful lot of creatures still to be identified. Mostly insects of course, but every now and again new mammals come to light.

Brin uses this briefly in his wonderful book Earth (too many touchstone possabilities) as an explanation why the original Pioneer spacecraft is still surviving in its mission to explore the galaxy. I thought it a nice point.

Edit - fixed the Earth touchstone, because Tim has got single word titles working now.

I've never read Brin, I'll have to pick that up and check it out.
Right now I'm reading the BitterBynd trilogy by Cecilia Dart-Thornton, which also deals a Lot with true names, but as she borrows heavily (and admittedly) from Celtic and other myths, not surprising. She does give decent reference sections in the back of the books for research, which is nice.

#27 would-be parents and names

I've always been fascinated by names and their meanings and the odd choices and combinations parents choose for their children so I was keen to check out your recommendation. However, I found the writer's sarcasm a little too nasty for my taste and wondered if there was any name that would have been deemed acceptable. My other interest is genealogy and thought would-be parents might like to note that in years gone by the same names were used so often in subsequent generations (sometimes parents even used the name of a deceased baby for their next child) that tracking ancestors can become a nightmare. So maybe a little imagination isn't always such a bad, bad thing.

Patricia Wrede's Magician's Ward (sequel to Marielon the Magician) talks about using obscure languages for magic with a very reasonable explanation. If the magician really understands the words, it channels too much magic into the spell - the obscure words help keep the flow under control. Marielon talks about English-speaking magicians using Hebrew (and Latin, and Greek, and a few other languages) for their 'magic languages', while Hebrew-speaking magicians use Latin and Russian and have to be wary of English magicians' spells...

Secret names aren't just used in the past. In the wiccan relgion you dont reviele your true name b/c they believe that gives someone power over you. But like it was mentioned earlier dont most of us do that on the computer? I know that when I was little my parents didn't want me wearing jerseys with my name on the back to crowded places b/c if we got seperated some one could call out my name and pretend that my parents had sent them to get me and I would have though t it o.k b/c, hello, they knew my name.

Another series that also uses the concept of Name=power with regard to magic is the Dresen Files by Jim Butcher. The primary character has five names that he doesn't give to anyone... except the reader.

The graphic novel series Elfquest by Wendi Pini is big on this too

All my posts seem to be discussing The Iron Dragon's Daughter at the moment, and this one is no exception.

The 'true name' trope features heavily in this work, and is revisited on numerous occasions by many different characters.

The name and power concept is pretty much the central one for the Symphony of the ages.

The idea about old languages having power probably goes back to the concept of language and knowledge equalling power and the older the language, the more educated and therefore more powerful...I can't say for sure, but as people are quick to point out, this far predates Le Guin. Also the language typically defaults to Latin when it comes down to it.

True Names by Vernor Vinge is SF, but references the old magical beliefs.