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There is a trope circulating on the internet that if a fae (or fairy, elf, etc.) asks for your name, and you give it to them, they can literally take your name from you, leaving you nameless.

How far back does this trope date? Does it appear in any traditional fairy tales, or is it a more recent invention? Are there any citations even from before the 21st century?

"Fae" generally refers to a secretive race of magical pagan creatures in the European tradition, e.g. creatures similar to those called fairies, leprechauns, elves, Aos sí, etc, or modern stories based on such creatures. Basically, any magical creature that would appear in a European fairy tale might qualify. Here is a compendium of many authentic fairy tales.

Note that I am looking for mentions of a fae stealing the name of a human, not the other way around.

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    Off the top of my head, it's Ancient Egypt or Sumer, though not sure of the latter, where the idea of name magic appears. There is an Egyptian myth about how Isis used Ra's "true name" to gain power over him. Also, it depends on the "type" of Fae mythology itself. Norse/Germanic/Gaelic elves are quite different from the type we normally associate the word with, so it's a good idea to maybe improve on the question? Not criticism, just observation.
    – AcePL
    Commented Jan 8 at 8:21
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    @AcePL Gods aren't classified as fae, and Ra is not a human either. The question is about fae stealing a human's name by wordplay, not someone taking a fae's name or a god's name (and not a human using name magic against another human). Rumplestiltskin for example also does not qualify, as it is a human using Rumplestiltskin's name to control him, not the reverse. My suspicion is that the idea that fae would do this is very modern, probably 20th century (maybe even 21st century).
    – causative
    Commented Jan 8 at 9:27
  • For what qualifies as fae: it is ambiguous but it generally refers to a secretive race of magical pagan creatures in the European tradition, e.g. creatures similar to those called fairies, leprechauns, elves, Aos sí, etc.
    – causative
    Commented Jan 8 at 9:41
  • Yeah, there is a bit missing due to clumsy phone edit - Ra's name stealing is first known instance - "But the True Name magic use by fae I know of is by Daoine Sidhe (Aos Sí) of Gaelic myths."
    – AcePL
    Commented Jan 9 at 12:54
  • Probably in one of Child Ballads, but I forgot which one: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_Ballads
    – jo1storm
    Commented Jan 12 at 11:41

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The only example I can find of a fae stealing a name because the victim named themselves is SCP-4000 AKA "taboo", published in 2018.

In this case the victim names himself "fellow scholar" while conversing with a nameless fae, allowing the fae to take the victim's original name and entire identity. The SCP features many variations of name transference whenever something is named, before this final example.

The SCP Foundation wiki has a couple of other mentions, but they were written after this.

If a wizard counts, rather than a fae, then the video game Planescape: Torment (1999) has an NPC who suffers this fate after revealing their name to an evil magician.

What is an established trope of faery is that names have power. Knowing something's true name allows control over it in some form. This goes back to ancient Egyptian mythology. Spirited Away, SCP-4000, and Arthurian legend would have all had the idea to steal names from this general concept.

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  • Wizards count. Is there a more detailed description of exactly what happens to this NPC in planescape:torment?
    – causative
    Commented Jan 12 at 19:16
  • @causative that's about it, a wizard finds out their name and steals it, cursing them. You get a sidequest to lift the curse.
    – OrangeDog
    Commented Jan 12 at 19:39
  • What was the NPC's name? shrines.rpgclassics.com/pc/planescape/quests.shtml#null has a list of quests, is the quest to lift the curse one of those?
    – causative
    Commented Jan 12 at 20:57
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    @causative it's the Reekwind one
    – OrangeDog
    Commented Jan 13 at 12:06
  • Meh, Ged took away Akaren's name long before P:T. Examples are indeed sure to get back to ancient times.
    – Mithoron
    Commented Jan 21 at 20:17

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