The power of one's name; in fiction and real life

[roseproject]

First off, this is more of a hypothedical question. I’m asking because it relates to a story I’m writing, though I think the answer would be interesting regardless…

So, there is a common trope in fiction relating to the power of knowing one’s name or revealing your name to another. The common theme is that there is a particular power in ones given name or, what some stories call it, a “true name”.

I also know that there are stories in the bible that seen to follow this logic, seen most notably in the story of Jacob wrestling the angel. The angel asks the name of Jacob but when Jacob asks the angels name, he refuses to answer. Is there an inherent power in knowing one’s name?

Finally, I’ve heard stories of exorcists forcing a demon to reveal their name to them to give them a sort of “upper hand” against them if you will. Can this role be somehow flipped if a demon asks you your name; like giving them some sort of upper hand against you if they try to oppress you in some way? Not sure if anything like that has ever happened in real life but any insight might be helpful

Thanks in advance

P.S. Not sure if this is the right forum for this so feel free to move it is need be ^^’ It’s been a while.

 

[Maximilian75]

I Cannot answer your whole question, bit I do know part of the significance of God revealing his name (YHWH) to the Israelites was that to the Hebrews, one’s name was a very deep and intergal part of their identity.

 

[pianistclare]

Also, God gave Adam was given dominion over the animals by giving him the ability to name them imself.

 

[Kathleen18]

Alot of cultures believe(d) that if someone or something knows your name, they may have power over you. Does that help?

 

[midori]

Also, you’ll notice that in the Bible, name changes are connected to significant events. So when Abram = Abraham, Jacob = Israel, Saul = Paul, Simon = Peter, those all indicate that Something Significant Is Happening in This Person’s Life and Mission, which is a bit related to the Power of a Name being related to that person’s essence and identity, if that makes sense?

 

[midori]

Oh-- you’ll also remember that God’s name is unpronounceable. He called himself “I AM WHO AM”, and tells Moses to say, “I AM sent you” when he’s asked. “I AM” gets spelled with the letters “YHWH”, but there’s an absence of vowels, so we don’t really know how to pronounce it. We use conventional words like “Yahweh” or “Jehovah” rather than trying to say “YHWH”, but it’s an important point that we don’t have power over God’s true name.

As a further sign of respect, you might have noticed that we no longer sing hymns that use the word “Yahweh”, although I distinctly remember a few in the 80’s. (“Yahweh, I know you are near/ standing always by my side/ you guard me from the foe/ and you lead me in ways everlasting…” is the one that I remember best, and has been rewritten so that the first two syllables are “O Lord” rather than “Yahweh”.)