What does "in the name of..." actually mean?

Solution 1:

What does “in the name of…” actually mean?

Putting all religious contentions aside for the sake of our language, the etymology of name offers a good place to start understanding:

Old English nama, noma "name, reputation,"

from Proto-Germanic *namon

(cognates: Old Saxon namo, Old Frisian nama, Old High German namo, German Name, Middle Dutch name, Dutch naam, Old Norse nafn, Gothic namo "name"),

from PIE *nomn- (cognates: Sanskrit nama; Avestan nama; Greek onoma, onyma; Latin nomen; Old Church Slavonic ime, genitive imene; Russian imya; Old Irish ainm; Old Welsh anu "name").

Emphasis mine

We've all experienced the power of namedropping in our lives. People respect us and our opinions if they believe we are connected to someone with greater reputation and authority.

In all cultures, people of authority have always lent their reputation and their authority to their delegates. The founders and leaders of religious movements use the same delegation strategies as the founders and leaders of nations. The English phrase in the name of simply asserts the reputation and authority of another person.

English Reports Annotated - Pages 1505-2672, 1505, page 2048:

...an action on a board given to trustees of an industrial society before the act may, after registration under the act, be brought in the name of the newly -incorporated body.

Victor Hugo's Dramas 1519, page 364:

Richard Varney, in the name of God and Saint George we dub thee knight!

The Newe Testament in Englishe Translated After the Greke, 1553:

And he that receiveth a righteous man, in the name of a righteous man, shall receive a righteous man's reward.

Calendar of State Papers, Foreign Series, of the reign of Elizabeth: preserved in the State Paper Department of Her Majesty's Public Record Office, Volume 7, 1564:

Smith and Throckmorton in the name of their Mistress demanded the ratification of the Treaty of Cateau Cambresis

An Open Letter to the Christian Nobility of the German Nation, by Martin Luther, 1520, Translation by C. M. Jacobs, Page 94:

The complaint was made at Worms (1521) that it was impossible for a German to secure a clear title to a benefice at Rome unless he applied for it in the name of an Italian, to whom he was obliged to pay a percentage of the income...

Emphasis mine

We introduce an interrogative with the emphatic: What in God's name, or its metonym: What in heaven's name. That emphasis poses an implication to the listener: I have a right to ask this question, and you owe me an answer!

Solution 2:

I disagree with Blessed Geek. The title of this page is English Language & Usage. What is more basic to speaking and using correct English than knowing what an expression means? There are many nonreligious uses for this phrase: "in the name of the law," "in the name of the king/queen," "in the name of humanity," in the name of common decency," etc.

The question asked what the phrase means, not the historical contexts in which it developed or the religious and/or political influences on it. It most certainly does not ask whether people actually believe that God exists and gives people the authority to act in his name, although both the Old and New Testaments teach this idea extensively.

Very simply, the phrase means that law, the monarch, deity, humanity, or common decency, etc. gives the speaker power and authority to demand attention, respect, and obedience.