Demonreach question

[Conspiracy Theorist]

Aha thought so, it’s been a while since I read Even Hand.

I am not even convinced Harry Dresden is named Harry Dresden, his name comes from the stage names of magicians, not their real names, so why would he reveal it so casually in the first page of Storm Front only to make a big deal of it later?

Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden may be

Eric Bouton Kotkin Dresden

I believe Ferrovax only enunciates Dresden in Grave Peril, I don’t have the book to hand.

Remember all Harry/Eric’s records were removed from the system when he was taken by Justin, Justin may have known his true name but he wasn’t able to enslave Harry so I suspect no, it was likely a private joke between Harry and his dad, his stage name and his real name.

[Mira]

  What is a "true" name?  What is on a birth certificate somewhere or the name you are called all of
your life?

[Arjan]

  What is a "true" name?  What is on a birth certificate somewhere or the name you are called all of
your life?

Do you have faith in your birth certificate?

I think it is the name or names you have accepted or maybe those bestowed on you strongly enough but I think in the end you have to accept the name. Chauncey needed to hear the name from Harry’s own mouth. You do not get far with someone’s birth certificate.

[Conspiracy Theorist]

In Harry’s case it is the name his father bestowed upon him, not a birth certificate or other official document, or even what his friends call him now. It is the core of his identity.

With Marcone it may be similar, we see no family but it is what they would have called him.

Harry has picked up on this I think, his use of “John” in dealing with Marcone may be the truth, and that needles Marcone his real first name is likely John not Jonny or Johnnie (both of which are used in the files, and yes I think that is deliberate) it’s his last name which is assumed. Marcone is an Italian patronymic, I do not think Marcone is actually of Italian descent, but his father may have been named Mark or Marcus, and may have been from a military family as he is considered to have had military training. Navy given the “boaters tan” oft referred to.

I think the Tiger Soul is significant, and it is important, Harry only knows this as part of a Soulgaze. The only US military unit John could have served in given his age and associated with Tigers would be Attack Squadron 65 (VA-65), nicknamed The World Famous Fighting Tigers, which was disestablished in 1993, seven years before Storm Front.

Enough info for Harry to find Marcone’s true name?

[morriswalters]

  What is a "true" name?  What is on a birth certificate somewhere or the name you are called all of
your life?

Jim doesn't say.  Two possible ways to look at it using Marcone.  The first that it is the name he was given at birth. The other would be that his true name is the one he took, the one who he is. I prefer a combo of the two.

There are two parts of magic you have to understand to catch a faery. One of them is the concept of true names. Everything in the whole world has its own name. Names are unique sounds and cadences of words that are attached to one specific individual—sort of like a kind of theme music. If you know something's name, you can associate yourself with it in a magical sense, almost in the same way a wizard can reach out and touch someone if he possesses a lock of their hair, or fingernail clippings, or blood. If you know something's name, you can create a magical link to it, just as you can call someone up and talk to them if you know their phone number. Just knowing the name isn't good enough, though: You have to know exactly how to say it. Ask two John Franklin Smiths to say their names for you, and you'll get subtle differences in tone and pronunciation, each one unique to its owner. Wizards tend to collect names of creatures, spirits, and people like some kind of huge Rolodex. You never know when it will come in handy.

[Mira]

Do you have faith in your birth certificate?

I think it is the name or names you have accepted or maybe those bestowed on you strongly enough but I think in the end you have to accept the name. Chauncey needed to hear the name from Harry’s own mouth. You do not get far with someone’s birth certificate.

But that's my point, what is a "true" name? The one written on your birth certificate or the one you answer to?  They aren't always the same.. "George" maybe written on your birth certificate, but "Stinky" is the only name you've ever answered to or have been called, so which is the "true" name?

[seanham]

It's also important to remember that your True Name can and does change over time. So just because growing up, you were called one thing doesn't mean that 50 years later your True Name is still that old one.

[Ed0517]

Do you have faith in your birth certificate?

I think it is the name or names you have accepted or maybe those bestowed on you strongly enough but I think in the end you have to accept the name. Chauncey needed to hear the name from Harry’s own mouth. You do not get far with someone’s birth certificate.

Especially what happens if, say, your birth certificate and baptismal certificate do not exactly agree? Like mine? LOL!

[Ed0517]

But that's my point, what is a "true" name? The one written on your birth certificate or the one you answer to?  They aren't always the same.. "George" maybe written on your birth certificate, but "Stinky" is the only name you've ever answered to or have been called, so which is the "true" name?

OK, who else thought of the old Odd Couple episode with Oscar talking to the card game boys?

"Homer?"

"You think my mother named me Speed???"

[Mira]

  Or like thousands who immigrated here, my grandfather, he was told to change his name to a more "American" form of it, and it has been used by the family ever since.

[SerScot]

  Or like thousands who immigrated here, my grandfather, he was told to change his name to a more "American" form of it, and it has been used by the family ever since.

Going back in my family records our sur-name was much more germanic when we arrived and it was “Americanized” in two generations.

[Mira]

Going back in my family records our sur-name was much more germanic when we arrived and it was “Americanized” in two generations.

 From the story I was told, it happened to my grandfather fairly quickly, what is weird, is the original form of his surname is fairly common now and is considered very American.  I think movie stars and others in show business fit the question of what is their true name best.  Very common for people to get their names changed when they go into show business, if they become famous/popular, in the eyes of the public, that is their true name, not the original.