One interesting aspect of
Jane Johnson’s novel, The Secret Country, was how she built upon the power of a
person’s name. The ancients believed strongly in the significance of
names. Consider two examples from the
Biblical book of Genesis. When God made
a covenant with Abram, he renamed him Abraham.
Later, when his grandson Jacob wins his all-night wrestling match, God
renames him Israel, and Jacob/Israel then marks their wrestling-spot with the
name Peniel. All ancient religions, myths, folklore,
customs taught the importance of names. This emphasis stretches beyond the past to
infuse contemporary society, and will doubtless prove important in our future.
As writers are particularly smart people, they recognize this, and thus devote significant time to naming their important places and
characters. But rarely does a name’s
power factor significantly in the plot.
In The Secret Country, however, Ben Arnold learns how important names
can be. Remember the talking cat he
rescues from Mr. Dodd’s Pet Emporium?
After numerous attempts to prove himself, the cat finally relents and
gives him his full name: Ignatius Sorvo Coromandel.
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| Illustration by Adam Stower |
However, he drives home to Ben the importance
of not speaking it flippantly. And when
their paths diverge, the cat –who prefers to be called Iggy—tells him, “I own
your true name, Benjamin Christopher Arnold.
I can call you any time.” The
same, of course, applies to the cat. If
Ben calls him by his full name, even if they are many miles apart, the cat will
know, and he must hurry to Ben’s aid. So
the cat warns him to use his name cautiously, for he can only summon him three
times.
Later, when Ben meets the
dragon, he is short on time, and wants to convince it that he has only the best
intentions. So he introduces himself by
his full name. The dragon says, “Well,
that’s brave of you, giving your true name to a dragon. The dragon, who prefers to be called Zark,
proves to be easier to convince than Iggy, and tells Ben his full name is
Xarkandushak. While Ben cares for the
dragon as best he can, he is still a twelve year old boy, and the importance of
names, as well as the magic of Eidolon, is new to him. Unfortunately, he utters Zark’s full name in
Mr. Dodd’s hearing. Mr. Dodd has gained
power in Eidolon by learning the full name of many of its citizens, and has
used that power to enslave them, or capture them and sell them in our
world. This lapse gives Mr. Dodd the
power to command Zark, and forces Ben to voluntarily submit to his authority
for a time, until he can summon others to his aid. Thus, Ben learns the importance of people’s
names.
A recent study discussed in
The New Yorker suggests that people may invest more readily in the stocks of companies with
simpler, and more easily pronounceable names.
Women with more unisex or masculine-sounding names may climb to higher
rungs on the corporate ladder than ones with clearly feminine names. Voters tend to elect political candidates
with simple, easy-to-say names. But this
doesn’t mean that people with more complex or difficult-to-pronounce
names cannot succeed. As the article
notes, the name Barack Obama didn’t initially roll off people’s tongues. But my favorite person’s name
comes from Jane Johnson. At one point,
Ben meets a selkie, a person who lives as a seal in water but a Human on land. She goes by the name Silver, but that is just
her nickname, what she prefers to be called.
Her true name is She Who Swims the Silver Path of the Moon, daughter of
He Who Hangs Around on the Great South Rock to Attract Females. I’m sure you’ll agree: that’s one
powerful name!
Dragon Dave
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