: Should I defer introducing the name of the eponymous character/object? In my short-story/novella, the title was "Hypnos Wakes" where "Hypnos" is the name of an alien/monster thing that possesses

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I don't think there is a specific time that you need to introduce the name. If it's later, that's fine. I'd caution against a bait and switch though. However, it doesn't seem like you are doing that.

When you reference someone you spend a ton of time with in real life, you often don't refer to them by name. It's only when you're talking about them to an external source that isn't familiar with them that you name them.

If "John" is your roommate, you might say "Hey John" when they come back from work, but you aren't going to do that if they've been around the whole time. So when you are watching TV on the couch and you've been hanging out for five hours, you aren't nearly as likely to say: "Hey John, pass me the remote." you'll say something like "Pass me the remote." and if that isn't noticed "Hey, pass me the remote." People won't generally address each other by name.

For your story, since Hypnos is in the main characters head, they are always with the character. Even if they converse, they aren't all that likely to use the others name. Now, if they are trying to get the others attention, that might be a situation, but if both of them are active, it's unlikely that the main character will use Hypnos name.

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If the name is known to the main character in the beginning just tell it to the readers in the beginning. If he does not, tell the story of him finding or giving the name, so the readers finds out when the character does.

Basically, if you have an interesting story about the discovery of the name tell it and reveal the name at its end, if you don't just let the character and by extension readers have the name from the beginning.

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The 'reveal' of the name may seem obvious, but the reader will be waiting for it. We will want to know if it's created by the main character, if it's an ancient title, its own taken name or whatever.

I do not believe it will be much of a shock to find out this entity is the "Hypnos" mentioned on the front cover, but it will satisfy some curiosity. If anything, the name of the book "Hypnos Wakes" offers the questions:

What is Hypnos?
What happens when it wakes up?

As such, the reveal of the name will be a highlight of the story, no matter how it is written, because it answers the first question the story offered the reader. That being said, it would probably be spoiled on the back anyway. It would be hard to give a blurb on the story that doesn't involve the possession-based-story, and your readers could probably guess that the possession would be because of this "Hypnos".

I believe spoiling the name - unless the name is supposed to be some well guarded secret - would not be a bad thing and would actually be satisfying for a reader to get to the point where the name has been "created" in the story.

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