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The Power of a Name

© Kristen Hanley Cardozo

The power of a name is as ancient as naming. All throughout mythology, examples can be found of secret names, names that had the power to destroy, and names that had the power to bring great rewards. In choosing a baby name today, parents rarely consider the weight that used to be associated with this task.

In some African cultures, the high infant mortality rate has inspired Abiku, or born-to-die names, which are intended to keep the children from death. The basic idea is that some infants are the embodiments of evil spirits, which enter and exit the corporeal world, necessarily taking the baby with them. The names are often a petition to the spirit to “stay and play the child” (as in the name Durosomo). Another name, Banjoko, means “stay with me”.

In our own culture, the Puritans named their children fateful virtue, and, in some cases, sin names, although they would never have labeled it magic. Nonetheless, a girl named Faith or Chastity was named so in the hope that she would live up to her name. The Puritans were trying to find an alternative to Biblical names, which they viewed as Catholic, or Jewish. Some parents went to extremes. Real names include Fear-not, Search-the-Scriptures, and the cumbersome Through-much-tribulation-we-enter-the-kingdom-of-Heaven Clapp.

Jewish magical names are often the first initials of a spell. One of the most well known magical names is Agla, which stands for “Ataw Gebor Leolam Adonai”, meaning “Thou art mighty forever, Lord”. In Judaism, it is forbidden to say the name of God, which, of course, adds to the power of God’s name, and to the fascination with it. A branch of Jewish mysticism, Kabbalah, is dedicated to discovering the sacred name.

Ancient Egyptians associated the name with the soul. It was believed that knowledge of a god or spirit’s name gave one complete power over that deity, and knowledge of a man’s name provided the power to do that man good or ill. A person could not exist without his name.

In ancient China, as in ancient Egypt, the name was considered to have enormous personal power, and for that reason, it was forbidden to speak the name of the emperor. People whose name happened to be the same as the emperor were faced with censure or even death. When Liu Bang of the Western Han Dynasty became emperor, it was decreed that anyone whose name contained the syllable “bang” must change to something else.