True Name

True Name  (真名 (まな), Mana^?) is a term used in the Koihime Series. It is a name that various characters of the series bears.

Description

Koihime†Musō Series

In dialogue, it is implied that everyone belonging in the Three Kingdoms Era bears a True Name. although there is no given True Names of the males, like Kada, and the non-love interest females, like Kayū.

Only those allowed by the bearer may refer to the bearer by their True Names, hence being "entrusted" their True Names. It is considered disrespectful, rude, and even outright sacrilegious to refer to others by their True Names without being entrusted, and could be grounds for justified murder. Even the normally calm and composed Tei'iku (Teiritsu at the time) immediately started yelling at Kazuto to take back his words when he had mistakenly referred to her by her True Name, with Chōun immediately threatening Kazuto's life.

Sengoku†Koihime Series

In this series, similar to Koihime†Musō, it is implied that everyone in the Warring States Era bears a True Name.

However, in contrast to Koihime†Musō, it is actually expected for others to refer to each other via their True Names, and it is rude to refer to each other by the names that they were historically named (called the Meaning Name  (諱 (いみな), Imina^?), unless the speaker is that person's parent or lord. Even close friends and married couples tend to refer to each other by their True Names over their Meaning Names. It relates to the myth that a person's soul is strongly connected to their Meaning Names, and its use could dominate the soul.

While it is rude to refer to each other by their Meaning Name, it is not considered a heavy taboo to do so, and enemies tend to refer to each other by Meaning Name as a curse.

Due to this switch in context, according to Kuon, True Names could also be referred to as a common name.