Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan now gives some detailed insight into the ways in which names have a psychological effect. The previous post in the series is here.

The meaning of a name has a great influence upon its possessor as well as upon others. From the sound of the letters and the word they compose the mystic can understand much about the character and fate of a person. An intelligent person generally gets the idea from the sound of letters that compose a name whether it is beautiful or ugly, soft or hard, consonant or dissonant, but does not know what makes it so; the one who understands knows why it is so.

Letters singly or together are either pronounced smoothly or with difficulty and have their effect accordingly upon oneself and upon another. Names that are smooth and soft-sounding make a soft effect upon the speaker and listener, whereas hard sounding names have a contrary effect. Man naturally calls soft things by smooth names and hard things by hard-sounding names as for instance flower and rock, wool and flint, etc. Language, and especially names, show the class of people and character of families, communities and races. Vowels play a great part in the name and its influence. E and I denote jamal, the feminine quality of grace, wisdom, beauty and receptivity, O and U denote jalal, the masculine quality of power and expression. A denotes kamal, which is significant of the perfection in which both these qualities are centered. The above-named vowels in the composition of the name have an effect according to their place in the name, whether in the beginning, center or end.

Fate in Sanskrit is called karma, meaning the rhythm of past actions. The influence of rhythm suggested by a name has an effect upon the entity whose name it is as well as upon those who call him by that name. Evenness of rhythm gives balance while unevenness causes a lack of balance. The beauty of rhythm beautifies the character of man. 

By rhythm is meant the way in which the name begins and how it ends, whether evenly or unevenly, on the accent or before the accent. The accent falling on the beginning, middle or end varies the effect which plays a part in a person’s character and fate. The rhythm of the name suggests the main thing in life, balance or its lack. Lack of balance is a deficiency in character and causes adversity in life. The number of letters plays a great part in the name of a person. An even number shows beauty and wisdom, and an odd number shows love and power.

Number plays a great part in life and especially in name. Each letter of a name has its numerical value; in oriental science it is called jafr. By this system not only are names given to buildings, objects and people, conveying their period of commencement and completion, but the combination of these numbers conveys to the seer its mystical effect.

To be continued…