From “in the beginning was the Word” to all other scriptures and sacred texts from all over the world be them divine, demonic or esoteric, there are references to the power of names, of words.
Know the real name of something and you have power over the thing.
Is that fantasy or real? On the AYP spiritual path, I have had numerous hints of stuff revealed in arcane teachings but never of the power of Words/Names and mastery of same.
Except perhaps for the power of mantras. There are those “talking in tongues”, which is supposed to be a language closer to God 
I am curious (as I always am). Does anyone have information or experience of this? What is the relevance of Words/Names to creation? What proof do we have of this? Patanjali suggests some sutras with “magical powers”. There is the Samyama effect but that is a long-term development of qualities and not a direct use of the power of a word.
I guess I am looking for some scientific context to it.
Sey 
Sey, You raise an interesting question. My personal experience on this comes from my connection with the mantras, sutras and hypnosis. Hypnosis, as I’ve shared previously, has offered me some insight on samyama. I continue to be struck by how powerful words used in these three practices shape my neurophysiology. Unfortunately the medical world has not spent a lot of time digging into this topic. If you want to end your career in science or medicine you just have to declare yourself interested in hypnosis. Times are changing and neuroscience is opening up more tools to dig deeper into the brain function. I just saw a clip this morning of the man who had Musks first neurolink implant. He thinks about the movement of a cursor on the screen and with attention/intention has learned to trigger the pathways that actually move his cursor purely by thoughts. This seems to be a neuro-corrolate of how a hypnotic trigger can affect behavioral changes.
On a deeper level this raises questions about your “in the beginning” question. It seems possible the energy behind all that is could create from a word. It’s just hard for our simple brains to comprehend
My poetry here at AYP is simply for the words and their power when simplified and barren, and how spaces between words is what holds it all together in this yogis brain and Bhakti
I?ve often thought how a persons name shapes them in some way. It may be completely false and just a half baked idea. But I know I?m not the only whose thought before. Who knows if there?s any truth to it and if there is it still doesn?t matter
You would love reading the Sefer Yetzirah, it helps one learn how word is also broken down into quanity, quality and communication. Modern explanations help us understand the beginning of beginnings and how all is vibration of some kind (I am stillness and I am motion). An awakening tool for this that aligns is after reading the Sefer Yetzirah you have as your yoga lit the Zohar (Pritzker edition is the one I recommend) and the Torah (stone student edition with hebrew and english to help understand how Kabbalah works). From there, once read and embodied through our practice, its easy to see how the 231 gates, seferot and channels relate to sanskrit and the petals of our Chakras. Seeing how it is manifest in both systems help us reach the higher levels which are more meta and less about specific languages but embodiment of that which is beyond one language (some could look at the unstruck sound, Bet in hebrew, Om, or in Tibetan Buddhism the silent syllable).
Hebrew Aremic - https://www.researchgate.net/figure/22-points-231-lines-The-231-lines-connecting-the-22-letters-are-the-231-Gates-from_fig2_236826988
and
https://www.garyjaron.com/uploads/1/2/4/8/124810258/published/gra-1884-tree_2.jpg?1553211944
Sanscrit - http://www.kriyaunion.net/chakras.html
In reality, it’s easier to be I Am as your Soul (Jiva) and follow the Tao until it’s perfected day in and day out (raja) than go the other way but that is not how we incarnate. If we all saw each others souls (or more accurately Soul in multiple incarnations) first and body second, this would be a way of learning from the past.
Thank you for sharing
Sey
Dear all,
I am closer to understanding this matter than I was before. It came to me as I started contemplating the names of God and the knowledge of them last weekend.
The names of God are the qualities or attributes of God. We have given these names to God because we can recognize (Know) God through these names/qualities.
There are degrees to knowing these qualities and hence degrees of knowledge of God through these qualities.
For example - we have all known the feeling of compassion towards another at one time or another. But to know God -The Compassionate - we must experience Him not as compassion towards another but as Compassion in and of itself. There is no “other” in this State. And we are then Compassion itself.
To know God by the name The All Sufficient - one must experience the State of “no lack and no excess”. One is complete.
There is power in these names because (by their continuous repetition) they can bring you into the presence of God with the quality of that specific name. He reveals an aspect of Himself through each of these qualities. Some States reveal several of His names at once.
I find the name El Emet (Hebrew) = Al Haqq (Arabic) = The Truth. The Real. particularly relevant. This State reveals practically all the names: God-The Eternal; God-The Creator. The Pure. The unchanging. etc..
I am still blind as to how to invoke or to decree a particular word to have effect in the physical world. I know I can manipulate time at times (The Eternal) - like when I am still so sleepy and it is time to get up, I can stretch five more minutes into a whole night! 
I am not claiming that the understanding I have come to here are “bible truths” - just giving feedback on my contemplation of God’s names. I must add though the understanding poured into me like revelations, too much too fast for me to unpack.
Sey 