5 Strangest Beliefs About the Supernatural Power of Names
Own digital image using illustration (detail) by Warwick Goble from “The Fairy Book of Poetry” edited by Dora Owen (1920). (Source)
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It’s been said that “Names have power”
You might not think that our names are any more important than sounds we make as a way to distinguish ourselves from other people. But it hasn’t always been this way. Names have a long history of power and dark superstitions associated with them, from guarding children from evil spirits, granting the ability to summon or banish supernatural entities or protecting ourselves from witchcraft, sickness or even death.
Find out the most bizarre beliefs about the supernatural power of names.
1 - Unnamed, unbaptised babies would be attacked by witches and demons
For centuries the naming of a baby has been loaded with superstition.
Given the high rates of infant mortality at various points in history, it is hardly surprising that our ancestors would seek explanations for such emotionally painful losses, by turning to supernatural ways to protect infants from evil interference.
Folklorist Byrd Howell Granger tells us that in as far back as ancient Egypt,
“each child was given a […] ‘great name and … little name’. The great name was kept secret while the little name was for public use.” This was to prevent witches and sorcerers from being able to use the infant’s true name to cast malicious spells on them.
A similar tradition was practised among Hindus, who have also been known to give two names at birth. Again, one of the names is keep secret, so that witches cannot use it in ill-wishing against the child.
But it wasn’t just witches or sorcerers who were thought to be a threat to new-born infants. Similar terrors of demons persisted in Christian beliefs, making baptism an absolute necessity for parents to keep their baby safe from demonic forces.
In Germany, England and Scotland it was believed to be unlucky to call a child by any name before it is baptized, or to even tell anybody the intended name. This was to prevent powers of evil from hearing what the child’s name would be, which would give the demons power over it. Worse still, being an infant, it would be unable to protect itself by calling out its own name to combat the evil spirits’ powers.
The inhabitants of the Greek Cyclades islands also shared this fear, so they developed a custom to outwit these evil entities. They would name a child with a demon-scaring name like “Dragon” or “Iron” or something similar to frighten the evil forces away until the baptism had been completed.
The drakon of Kaulonia, an ancient greek colony on the Ionian Sea (Source)
Belief about the dangers faced by unbaptised babies even spread into folklore and fairy tales. In the Scottish tale “Whuppity Stoorie”, which has a similar plot to the better-known Rumpelstiltskin, a woman’s sick pig is restored to health by a green fairy who demands her infant son for payment unless the woman can guess the fairy’s name. In the same way as Rumpelstiltskin, the woman has three days to guess the supernatural entity’s name, and when she does, the fairy is defeated. She whirls in rage, screaming and lashing out until finally, she flees.
This folktale may be linked the commonly held belief that unbaptised children could be stolen away by fairies, who would sometimes even leave a devilish changeling in its place.
“Changeling” by Arthur Rackham (section)
2 - Your name could be used by witches and sorcerers to cast evil spells on you
Not only was it considered dangerous for demons to know your name, but also malevolent witches and sorcerers were thought to pose a real threat, since they could use your name to inflict manipulation, pain or even death upon you.
In the East Slavic region of Ruthenia, now modern-day Ukraine, it was believed that if a wizard knew a man’s baptismal name he could transform him by a mere effort of will (Granger). Such powers were not unusual for a region so steeped in pagan beliefs. According a 16th century poet:
“Poison and enchantment rule Ruthenia
The Ruthenian lands swarm with witches
Here I saw decrepit hags flying in the dark.”
Similarly, in ancient Ethiopia, if a wizard known as a Bouda knew a person’s baptismal name he could inflict illness or even death. It was reported that,
“he takes a particular kind of straw, and muttering something over it bends it into a circle, and places it under a stone. The person thus doomed is taken ill at the very moment of the bending of the straw, and should it by accident snap under the operation, the result of the attack will be the death of the patient.” (Granger)
And according to a fourteenth-century Arab writer, sorcerers of the Lower Euphrates would create effigies on which they wrote the names of those they sought to destroy.
It seems that sorcery was thought to wield a great deal of power through the use of names.
“The Sorcerer (No. 2)” (detail) by Ray Donley, 2006 (Source)
3 - Calling out a demonic entity or mythical beast’s true name can weaken or destroy it
There have been many examples of being able to overpower or make demons or monsters disappear by speaking their true name.
However, this is easier said than done, as evil entities are reportedly reluctant to surrender this vital aspect of their power.
To exorcise a demonic possession from someone, César Truqui, who is an exorcist of the Diocese of Chur, Switzerland, states it is a necessary part of the ritual to ask for the demon’s name. He explains that,
“naming something, or knowing its name, means having power over that thing. In fact, God gives Adam the power to name things. At the instant that the demon reveals his name, it shows that he has been weakened; if he doesn’t say it, he is still strong.”
Only once in his life’s work as an exorcist has Truqui encountered a very rare case of a mute demon from whom he could not acquire a name. This demanded a different approach of intense prayer and fasting.
It was also thought that night-time demonic visitations could be overcome by naming the supernatural intruder. In Germany, a type of energy-vampire that crept up on a sleeping victim’s body from below was known as a Murraue. First, you would feel her weight on your feet, next your stomach and finally on your chest. Your body would then be in the grip of paralysis while the creature drains your energy. Reports of this type of phenomenon often associated with sleep paralysis exist to this day, some believing this to be a type of shadow entity.
However, in the lore surrounding the Murraue, it was said that the entity was likely to be the spirit of a deceased acquaintance or family member you knew, often female. If you recognised her, you should call her name as soon as you perceive her to force her to retreat. If you couldn’t identify her, there was nothing you could do but await the daylight.
Sleep demon illustration (Source)
Aside from demonic possessions and nightmare visitations, there are also accounts of physical monsters being vanquished by calling their name. The Norwegian Nøkk (or Näcken in Sweden) were shapeshifting, mythical creatures that would appear near lakes and rivers, brooks and waterfalls. They would present themselves either as finely dressed males playing a violin or as a river-horse who would offer passers-by safe passage across the water. But instead they would pull them deep underwater and drown them.
In the form of a man, the hypnotic music they played was considered most dangerous to women and children, especially pregnant women and unbaptised children. He was thought to be most active during Midsummer's Night, on Christmas Eve, and on Thursdays, when he would lure his victims into the water.
When in equine form, the Nøkken would appear near a lake or river, especially during foggy weather, as a majestic, shimmering white horse with opal black eyes and a mane of thick fog. It would offer to carry its victims across the water, however, once on its back, they were magically bound and could not get off. It would then plunge them underwater and gallop into the depths with its twisted, backwards-facing hooves.
“Nøkken” by Theodor Kittelsen (1887-92) (Source)
Not all Nøkk were evil, but there was no way of knowing its intentions. If you were unlucky enough to encounter a malicious Nøkken, it was believed that they could be defeated by calling their name. This would force them to release their victim and retreat to the water. Naming them could even cause their death.
But how could you know the name of the Nøkken or any other supernatural creature or demonic entity found in legend, folk tale or paranormal account? Well, that was often part of the trick. Like in Rumpelstiltskin, or any one of the many variants of this tale, the trickster characters never have a normal human name, but a strange one from their own hidden language that humans aren’t meant to know or be able to guess.
4 - Names can summon spirits – both diabolical and divine
If you’ve seen enough horror movies, the idea of using a demon’s name to summon it will come as no surprise to you. For centuries, keeping demonic names unspoken or even concealed has been seen as a vital way to protect yourself from evil interference or curses – we may use the phrase “Speak of the devil and his horns will appear” in a jokey way nowadays, but in medieval times speaking the devil, or any evil spirit’s name, was a genuine source of fear.
However, concealed names are not just reserved for evil forces, but also for the divine. Gods were even known to gain power over one another by misusing the power of the true name. In one ancient Egyptian myth, the goddess Isis conspired against the King of the Gods and ruler of the sun, Ra, to diminish his power. She created a poisonous serpent from clay mixed with Ra’s saliva, and then placed it on the sun god’s daily path. When the serpent bit him, Ra attempted to command the poison to leave him, but because it contained his own saliva, he couldn’t cure himself.
The goddess Isis, known as a great magician and healer, claimed she couldn’t heal him unless he revealed his true name to her. Ra tried to fob her off with some of his lesser names but none worked and he finally gave in. Isis immediately cured Ra, but he could not take back the power his true name had given her. From that point, Isis was equal to the sun god in power.
“Isis conjured Ra to tell his Name” Illustration by Evelyn Paul from “Myths and Legends Ancient Egypt” by Lewis Spence (Source)
Religions have also sought to prevent abuses of power by keeping sacred language, like Latin, and holy names of God hidden from laypersons. In ancient Judaism, it was believed that God's true name was so potent that invoking it would grant the speaker tremendous power over God’s creations. So, to prevent humans from abusing this power and avoid blasphemy, the name of God was always kept taboo. Instead, priests in ancient times would use the name Adonai, meaning Lord, and only speak God’s true name – YWHW (“Yahweh”) – once every seven years.
As for summoning the dead, some tribes from across the world including South America and Sahara have even been known to forbid anyone from speaking a recently deceased person’s name both as a sign of respect and for fear of summoning their spirit.
In Sigmund Freud’s thesis Totem and Taboo, he claimed that among the Tuaregs of the Sahara, the fear of summoning the deceased’s spirit was so great that they wouldn’t speak their name until the body of the dead had completely decayed. Before then, the community even had to disguise itself so that the ghost couldn’t recognize and haunt them.
Today, many people of course believe that the help and guidance of angels, saints or deities can be invoked by calling their names forth in focused prayer or mantra. Sacred language still plays a huge part in prayer, with ceremonial languages like Hebrew, Latin and Sanskrit being believed to bring closer access to the divine.
5 - Changing your name can ward off the evil eye
Many cultures believe that changing your name could grant you protection against bad luck, ill-health and perhaps even cheat death for a little longer.
Both ancient Chinese and Jewish traditions held the belief that your name was part of your very essence. So, it was considered to have a significant effect on your fate in life. This meant that if sickness or bad luck had befallen you, a name change may turn the tides in your favour or even ward off the evil eye.
The Jewish Talmud teaches that one of the ways to change someone's fate is by changing their name. Seriously sick people may add to their name or even fully change it to a luckier one, like Chaim, meaning “life,” or Raphael, meaning “cure”, in order to help them recover. Perhaps astonishingly, reports do exist of incurably ill people making miraculous recoveries after such a name change.
Some people, from various cultures, change their name completely to put blinders on the angel of death, believing that if you have a new name, you’re no longer on his list. Professor Piotr Amadek of Leiden University notes the case of a 10th century account of Liu Sanbian, who began to suffer ill-health and attempted to cheat death by changing his name to Yong, meaning Eternal. He wasn’t granted immortality, but did live to age 82 – no mean feat at the time.
From “Breaking Point” painting series by James Bullough (Source)
So what’s in a name?
It appears that beliefs around the supernatural power of names have been with us across the world across the centuries. Names seem to invoke both the divine and the diabolical, the ability to harm and to heal, to change fate for the better or to curse it.
To this day, many of us want to know the meaning of our name, to know what qualities it bestows on us as individuals and from our family histories. Even if many don’t believe in the power of evil spirits to be able to harm an unnamed baby, there is something special about finding the name that’s feels perfect. Mothers and fathers may spend weeks considering the name of their baby, whether it has the right sound and whether it evokes the right meaning, as though the right name will set the wheels of that young life’s destiny in motion.
Some of us are still unconsciously wary of sharing our names with strangers, especially in situations where we know they want something from us. Sharing your name can break down barriers and build trust with other people you feel comfortable with, but can feel a bit too close for comfort with those you don’t. Some names can be secret, known only to our closest loved ones, giving us a sense of specialness.
Whether we like our name or not, it forms part of our identity. It is the strange utterance of a sound that signifies our place in the world, maybe even in the whole vibrating buzz that makes up creation, even if only for the briefness of a lifetime.
The Creation of Adam (detail) by Michelangelo (Source)
