History Main / IKnowYourTrueName

A person's true name might be self-determined, or bestowed on them by someone else -- possibly in a religious or magical ritual. In works which feature true names prominently, people tend to guard them jealously, and will even have [[IHaveManyNames a second name]] (or two or three or more, depending on the character's age) for everyday use.

* The combat-system of ''VideoGame/NinetyNineSpirirts'' is built around the use of true names. The titular evil spirits are usually immaterial and thus impossible to fight, but by correctly identifying the everyday object they are possessing (figured out through various hints), you can force them to take on a solid form, and either [[{{Mon}} capture]] or destroy them. (Incidentally, this effectively serves as a subversion of one of the rules stated at the very beginning of this page - their True Names effectively ARE objects.)

* Invoked by the ''CardGame/MagicTheGathering'' [[FishPeople merfolk]] card "[[https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=376562 True-Name Nemesis]]", which has protection from a player of its summoner's choice, making it remarkably hard to deal with, especially in a 1v1 scenario. In most cases, it takes a [[FantasticNuke board wipe]] just to remove it from the battlefield.

* ''Film/AvengersEndgame''. The keeper of the Soul Stone greets Black Widow and Hawkeye as "Natasha daughter of Ivan, and Clint, son of Edith" which underlines the keeper's mysticism, since he's alone on a planet in the middle of nowhere. Hawkeye dismisses this as a parlor trick, but Black Widow is shaken since ''she'' didn't even know her father's name.

* The first stage of Woody's plan to [[spoiler:scare Sid out of torturing his toys]] in ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory'' involves getting his attention, which he does by addressing him directly:

* Some transgender or nonbinary people who are closeted might only divulge their true names (which correctly reflects their gender and are typically not their legal name) to people they trust will not abuse it or out them. This also applies to pronouns.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'': The cubes in [[VoidBetweenTheWorlds the In Between Realm]] will show you the nearest reflective surface of anyone whose name is mentioned, but it only works if you refer to their actual name, [[spoiler:so Luz's initial attempts to see Vee by shouting "Luz Noceda 2.0" and "Doppelgänger" don't work while absentmindedly saying "count to [[YouAreNumberSix five]]" when trying to calm herself down does]].

* ''Fanfic/InfinityTrainBlossomingTrail'': It's revealed that most denizens are actually reincarnated passengers who failed to complete their trips. One of them is the ruler of the Curry Car, the Curry Prince. Chloe uses her cloak -- that lets her see into the soul of whoever she's facing -- to figure out who he truly is: [[spoiler:Soma Asman Kadar.]] This becomes shocking to the denizens themselves because the Curry Prince has been ruling for about a century now that only the elderly actually know his name. The sequel even notes that Chloe was able to figure this out without going into what is the True Name Car (although this is justified because [[spoiler:Chloe has read the manga where Soma came from according to an author note]])

* In ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueWar'', after Batman and Green Lantern's first encounter with Superman goes less than great with a now pissed off Superman charging at the both of them. Green Lantern thinks he's going to kill them both. Batman just says, "No he won't. [[ThouShaltNotKill You bruise, but you don't kill,]] do you... ''[[ArmorPiercingQuestion Clark]]''?" Stopping Superman dead in his tracks. This is quickly followed by Superman using his X-Ray vision to see through Batman's suit and smugly throwing this trope back in his face.

* ''Film/{{Warlock}}'', the MacGuffin is a book that contains the true name of God. Saying his true name backwards will cause TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt.

* ''Fanfic/{{Spellbound}}'': An important aspect of TheFairFolk. At a Samhain revel, Felix nearly gives his name to a ''Leanan Sidhe'', and is narrowly rescued by a changeling whose name was stolen long ago, thus enslaving her to the fae unless she can re-learn it.

A person's true name might be self-determined, or bestowed on them by someone else — possibly in a religious or magical ritual. In works which feature true names prominently, people tend to guard them jealously, and will even have [[IHaveManyNames a second name]] (or two or three or more, depending on the character's age) for everyday use.

Often a subtrope of ThePowerOfLanguage. Contrast SpeakOfTheDevil, where saying a name summons the named entity, but doesn't confer any power or control over it — in fact, speaking said name may actually [[TheScottishTrope give that entity power over YOU]]! Likewise, the true name of an EldritchAbomination or similarly twisting being may prove to be [[BrownNote extremely dangerous to mortal minds]].

** Spelling also counts. When Light kills his second victim, an asshole biker, he only hears the man's name (which gives you even less idea how it's spelled in Japanese than it does in English - that's why they take [[MyCard business cards]] so seriously), and as such writes down six separate spellings for the name.

* Myth/Finnishmythology has a variation: knowing something's ''birth'' gives you power to reverse it, and gain control over it. There are hundreds of fractures of "birth-words" for various things, gathered from oral tradition. For example, knowing the Birth of Iron should allow one to treat wounds caused by an iron weapon. On the other hand, speaking the true name of something powerful may also call it present, which is why the most commonly used words for certain things are not their original names. For example, the word for bear, "karhu" comes from the rough texture of a bear's fur. Also, the name the sky-god of old Finnish mythology is known by nowadays is "Ukko", meaning old man, as you definitely did not want to attract the attention of the god who decides the weather every time you had to mention him in a conversation.

[[folder:Mythology and Religion]]
* OlderThanDirt: [[Myth/EgyptianMythology Ancient Egyptians]] actually believed in the spiritual power of names, especially of one's own soul and those of the gods; for example, Isis (Au-set/Aset) once tricked the high god Ra into giving her a great deal of power by creating a serpent whose venom only she could counteract and having this viper bite him. He suffered but as a god was unable to die. She wrangled his True Name from him in exchange for the antidote which ended his suffering.
** There was also the belief that if you destroy all records of someone's name, their '[[OurSoulsAreDifferent Ka]]' would no longer exist. This has been attempted on unpopular pharaohs (like Akhenaten by everyone, and Hatshepsut by either her successor and stepson Thutmose III or his own son and successor Amenhotep II[[note]]The latter is now considered more likely by Egyptologists; most evidence indicates that Hatshepsut and Thutmose ruled jointly on good terms until her death. It wasn't until long afterward (when Thutmose was himself quite elderly and his son as co-regent effectively already ruled the kingdom) that Hatshepsut's monuments began to be defaced, and the current theory is that Amenhotep did this in an attempt to claim them as his own creations. Though given that Amenhotep II did not allow records to be kept of his wives' identities, he might also have been trying to erase the precedent of a female pharaoh.[[/note]]).

* In the original writings of Literature/TheBible, God's name is written around 7,000 times; the four letters that make it up are called the Tetragrammaton. Later on the Jews became superstitious regarding the name and would not say it, and since the original written form of the Hebrew language only consisted of consonants, the original pronunciation was lost. Another theory is that, according to Wikipedia, four letters of the Hebrew alphabet can double as vowels, ie ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mater_lectionis mater lectionis]]'', including Yodh "Y, I, J, or a vowel"; He "H, silent, or a vowel"; and Waw "W, V, or a vowel"; which all make up the Tetragrammaton. That is why in [[UsefulNotes/{{Gnosticism}} Gnostic]] literature, one of the names of the demiurge is Iao, Jao, Yao, or any other derivative form you can get from using the mater lectionis method. Either way, the loss of the correct pronunciation of the name of God in the present can make others mistakenly believe that the name of God was used in this manner by those who did know it, [[AvertedTrope while actually]] the name was well known and often used during BibleTimes. [[DefiedTrope It was a crime for the Jews to practice magic.]]
** Confusingly (but [[JewsLoveToArgue very typically]]), the actual definitions of "Jews", "using", "magic" and "illegal" are constantly up to debate, and in practice, orthodox Jews of the Hasidic sect are ''fervent'' practitioners of folk magic and mysticm (including such things as consulting a divination specialist before making important decisions, buying amulets and charms for various benefits and fearing a curse when bad things happen). The Jewish term for a magician? "Bal-Shem", literally meaning "Master of Names". They are believed to derieve their power from knowledge of the true names of spirits, which they normally utilize by writing them down and hiding the pieces of paper inside the amulets.
** And one of the privileges God granted to Adam was to name all the animals in creation.

** Shemyaza, one of the Grigori/Watchers (the angels who were enamoured by human women and came down to earth to take them as their wives) was seduced by Istahar into revealing God's true name. [[WhatHaveIDone He regretted it later]], and threw himself into the constellation Orion.
* In the Literature/BookOfRevelation, specifically chapter 2 verse 17, Jesus promises, "To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it." Since (in orthodox Christianity) Jesus has no need of spells, it certainly doesn't give him any ''more'' power over the receiver than he already has, and this is most likely emblematic of the absolute knowledge of the individual believer that Christ already possesses.
* In Homer's ''Literature/TheOdyssey'', Polyphemus the Cyclops is tricked by Odysseus/Ulysses. Odysseus claims his name is "no man," causing the Cyclops to be thought insane or cursed when he says that "no man" blinded him. However, Odysseus seals his fate after escaping when hubris prompts him to announce his True Name, allowing Poseidon, the Cyclops' father, to take revenge by sending a storm to destroy Odysseus' ships.

* Traditional Shinto beliefs include a form of magic called ''kotodama'', in which you can compel your target to do almost anything if you know their true name. Series that feature this include ''LightNovel/OurHomesFoxDeity'', ''Manga/{{Tactics}}'', and ''Her Majesty's Dog''.
* Finnish mythology has a variation of this trope: knowing something's ''birth'' gives you power to reverse it, and gain control over it. There are hundreds of fractures of "birth-words" for various things, gathered from oral tradition. For example, knowing the Birth of Iron should allow one to treat wounds caused by an iron weapon. On the other hand, speaking the true name of something powerful may also call it present, which is why the most commonly used words for certain things are not their original names. For example, the word for bear, "karhu" comes from the rough texture of a bear's fur. Also, the name the sky-god of old Finnish mythology is known by nowadays is "Ukko", meaning old man, as you definitely did not want to attract the attention of the god who decides the weather every time you had to mention him in a conversation.
** An ''Webcomic/{{xkcd}}'' [[https://xkcd.com/2381/ strip]] reveals that the thing about the bear's true name being unspeakable applies in English as well, with "bear" meaning "brown one". A good guess for what the bear was really called is apparently [[spoiler: "arth"]].
* The City of Rome's true name was an actual state secret kept as jealously as the US missile launch codes which is understandable [[ItMakesSenseInContext given their beliefs]]. It was illegal to speak it out loud lest priests from a enemy state use it to curse Rome. As a result, nobody knows Rome's true name anymore.

** ''TabletopGame/ChangelingTheDreaming'' has an {{Inver|tedTrope}}sion in the Art of Naming: the ability to rewrite someone's true name (essentially, the core of their being) ''does'' come with the risk of the Fates noticing you...

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheMask[=/=]Film/AceVentura'' crossover episode "The Aceman Cometh", Ace finds out that the Mask and Stanley Ipkiss are the same person. Stanley had called Ace to track down his pet Jack Russell terrier Milo (whom Pretorius had dognapped), but Stanley secretly changed into the Mask as he doubts Ace's sanity. It's when Milo (whose body had been transferred into that of a professor) returns to the Mask joyfully that Ace puts two and two together.

** John invokes this again when it turns out "Gary Jr.", the cute little emotional support dog Gary [[WhatAnIdiot brought on the ship after he "rescued" it from HELL]] is actually the hellhound that drove "Son of Sam" to insanity.

* The ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry3'' manga says that a demon's name is so important to him that by taking it away, the creature can be sealed for eternity.

** Light does not appear to have lost too many marks to name changes, probably because he concentrated his efforts on persons already investigated thoroughly by the police, and Japan has a pretty tough name-record system in place with the family register. Modern record-keeping generally makes complete identity change much harder. A Death Note user in Japan a couple hundred years earlier [[IHaveManyNames would have had an interesting time working out]] [[MeaningfulNameChange which of a man's names was 'true.']]

** Light does not appear to have lost too many marks to name changes, probably because he concentrated his efforts on persons already investigated thoroughly by the police, and Japan has a pretty tough name-record system in place with the family register. Modern record-keeping generally makes complete identity change much harder. A Death Note user in Japan a couple hundred years earlier would have had an interesting time working out which of a man's names was 'true.'

* In ''Series/LegendsOfTomorrow'', this fails against the demon Mallus, when [[Series/{{Constantine}} John Constantine]] tries to exorcise him. However, near the end of the season they learn that the demon's real name is ''Malice''. It's either the case of everyone [[{{Mondegreen}} mishearing it]] or FridgeBrilliance on Malice's side in order to avoid this trope.

* Chapter 4 of ''VideoGame/PaperMarioTheThousandYearDoor'' features a particularly powerful [[DittoFighter Duplighost]] who can not only copy his opponents' identities but ''[[GrandTheftMe steal]]'' them as well. Victims of this become shadows and can't [[TheNameless identify themselves to others]], [[NoSell inflict or sustain damage from the thief]], or [[spoiler:use the letter P in conversation without a special artifact]]. This is referred to as "stealing their name", and is revealed to only be possible because no one knows the Duplighost's name (even the normally-omniscient battle menu [[PaintingTheMedium lists him as "?????"]]); so when he steals ''your'' name midway through the chapter, you have to learn his name ([[spoiler:Doopliss]]) and say it to him to make him vulnerable. Defeating him restores your identity.