What is "true name"

n. (context fantasy English) A unique name of any entity which can be used to control or manipulate that entity.

A true name is a name of a thing or being that expresses, or is somehow identical with, its true nature. The notion that language, or some specific sacred language, refers to things by their true names has been central to philosophical study as well as various traditions of magic, religious invocation and mysticism ( mantras) since antiquity.

In civil law, a person's true name is generally considered to be the name given at birth or changed by a statutorily prescribed process (such as petitioning a court (available in all States) or specifying a new name on the marriage certificate (in those with such a statute)). A name assumed under the common law method (i.e. through use for a non-fraudulent purpose in those States which have not specifically abrogated common law names) may be used as one's true name. See, for example, ; US v Cox, 593 F2d 46; Natale, 527 SW2d 402. The most ubiquitous example of the latter are women who marry in most States and simply assume their husband's name (a custom derived from the days of the Theory of Coverture).