The Meaning of Hearing Your Name Called in a Dream

As with all dreams, the interpretation will rely on a considerable amount of additional context and there are various spiritual meanings of hearing your name called in a dream. But in most cases, if there’s no physical reason for dreaming of hearing someone calling your name, it means that spirit – often your spirit guides – are trying to attract your attention. We’ll look at this and the other reasons in this post.

The first thing to remember though when looking into this dream a bit more deeply is, don’t be afraid. It’s almost always a good sign that you’re hearing someone call your name in a dream. In many cases hearing our name is enough to wake us up with a startle and this can be frightening, so don’t be.

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Someone In The Physical Is Calling Your Name

This is a surprisingly common answer to the meaning of hearing your name called in a dream. Our brain interprets things we hear while we’re asleep and translates that into dreams for us to engage with while we sleep. Many people talk about how they were in a deep sleep and were dreaming about some kind of alarm going off in their dream. When they wake up to find a truck reversing outside, or their morning alarm actually going off in reality they get their answer.

And it can be the same if someone is physically trying to rouse you from your slumber. This can happen if you’re in a really deep sleep because you’ve been over tired or burning the candle at both ends. Your brain doesn’t want you to wake up yet. You’re in the REM state (rapid eye movement) where dreams are vivid. If your brain conjures up a nice dream scenario where someone is calling your name then you’re less likely to actually wake up. Your conscious brain is largely switched off at this point, but the part of it that is still working will be jolted awake quickly, unless a dream scenario is conjured up so that it’s no surprise to you that your name is being called.

Of course, once whoever it is gets close enough to shake you, you’re likely to wake up in most cases. And then realise that’s what’s the dream was about.

Hearing Your Name Called in a Dream and No-one Is There

This is where things get interesting. If no-one is there and you hear your name in a dream then it’s more likely that it’s indeed a spiritual sign. The spiritual meaning of the sign can depend to a large extent on the other circumstances going on in your dream too. For example, are you in trouble in your dream and someone is calling your name? Or, are you being called for dinner? If you hear your name in a dream then you’ll need to pay attention to the context in which you hear it. Who is saying your name (if you recognize the voice)? Can you see them in the dream or not, and if you can then what are they doing? Are they happy or sad? These are all important clues that can help you understand the spiritual meaning of hearing your name called in a dream.

Maybe Someone Is Thinking About You

When you hear your name in a dream it might be a sign that someone is thinking about you or that you are on their mind. Don’t be surprised if you hear from someone on the phone, or someone turns up on your doorstep out of the blue. To get more clues about whether this is the potential meaning of your dream, try to examine the smaller details of the dream.

Who was it in the dream that was calling your name? Do you recognize the voice? If you do, then it could very well be this person that’s thinking of you. If you don’t then it’s either someone you’re about to meet, or more likely to be your spirit guide trying to tell you something (unless you recognize your spirit guides voice and this wasn’t it).

Maybe Someone Needs You To Think About Them

Hearing your name called in a dream could also be a message from your subconscious mind or a higher power, such as someone else’s spirit guide(s). Many people don’t realize that sometimes other people’s spirit guides might try to gain our attention too. If the need is urgent or your sensitivity is high enough then you might hear them in your dream.

So, once again, look at what was going on in the dream. As before, you’ll need to investigate who you heard if you recognize the voice. Look at whether they simply called your name, or whether there were any additional words you heard. If you hear words like ‘Help me’ or ‘I need you to call me’ then you may want to consider this when you wake up.

Hearing a Nickname In Your Sleep

Most people who know our nickname tend to know us fairly closely. And of course, different people may have different nicknames for you – the nickname used for you at work might be completely different to the one your old school friends used when you were younger. So look at the nickname that was called to give you some clues as to who it was that was calling out to you. Working out who was calling you can help you determine what it might be that they want or need you to hear.

You may well find that the person in this dream reaches out to you in the next few days, either by phone, on the net or in person – and it may well be unexpected. Or it would have been if you hadn’t looked up what this dream meant.

Meaning of Hearing Someone’s Name In a Dream

The dreams we’ve spoken about above all involve hearing your name called in a dream – but what about hearing someone else’s name being called in a dream? There’s a few things to bear in mind here, the biggest of which is whether or not you recognize the name being called. If you don’t, it’s possible that the name you’ve heard is actually your name from a previous life. Your guides will often be with you for multiple lives and may be trying to communicate with you using an old name that you’ve forgotten.

If you do recognize the name try to figure out who it is that’s calling their name. Figuring this out should give you some helpful insights as to why the other person’s name is being called. Look at the context of other things going on in the dream because this one is potentially quite complicated and will need you to look at various aspects to get to the bottom of it.

Spirit (probably one of your Spirit Guides) is Calling You

If you’re hearing your name called in a dream and no-one is physically around it could be that you’re about to embark on a spiritual awakening journey. Or if you’re already in touch with spirit it can be that your spirit guides, or a deceased relative are calling you (deceased relatives can in fact become spirit guides for you). They may be trying to tell you something or warn you about something or someone.

While we sleep we’re more able to receive messages from spirit because the conscious mind is out of the way and not creating noise and interference for us to concentrate on instead. If you can, try to follow the source of the sound of your name being called and see where it leads. If you’re successful with this, it’s a form of lucid dreaming and can open answers to many questions you might have with the universe.

If you don’t manage to follow the sound in your dream (and many of us won’t be able to) don’t be too upset but instead journal your dream in a notebook or dream journal when you wake up. Journalling dreams can help you to see if there’s any pattern from this dream compared to other dreams that you’ve had before. Dreams fade quickly when we wake up so write down the dream and everything you can remember as soon as you wake up or as soon after as you can. We have some excellent dream journals available to help you with this, but a notepad and pen kept beside your bed will work just as well.

Your Spirit Guides Are Trying To Tell You Something

If you hear your name in a dream and you feel good about it then it probably represents good things to come. The dream is likely to be your spirit guides trying to tell you about success, love or good fortune. It could also be a message from them that you’re on the right track at the moment and you should keep on doing what you’re doing.

If you hear your name in a dream but it’s a negative experience and makes you feel uncomfortable then it is likely to be a warning from your spirit guides that you need to consider making some changes in your life. It could also be a message from your guides that you are not paying attention to something important.

Summary

In this post we’ve looked at various reasons why you might hear your name being called in a dream. The most obvious is that someone in the real world is awake and trying to wake you up. But if you’ve ruled that out then there really could be a spiritual meaning of hearing your name called. Look for the clues within the dream to work out the bigger meaning behind it.

In most cases it’s your spirit guides trying to get some kind of message to you. Sometimes it can be someone else’s spirit guides though. If it’s your spirit guides, the meaning depends on the context of what else is going on in the dream too. As we’ve seen, it can mean someone is thinking of you, or someone wants/needs you to think about them. It can mean someone you’ve not seen for a while will soon be heard from or visit.

Sometimes the message can be a positive affirmation from your guides that you’re doing the right things, and other times it’s a warning that you need to rethink some aspect of your life’s direction. The message you’re meant to receive from this will depend on whether you felt good or bad in the dream.

If you’ve decided that there’s some spiritual reason for your name being called in your dream but you’re still not sure then you may find a dedicated dream counselor can help guide you through the specifics of your dream and figure out what it could mean. Or, if you’re willing and able, you could begin to spiritually meditate on the dream. In many cases, because you’re more aware of what’s happening in a meditation, the answer will come from spirit as you meditate. Meditation is our spirit guide’s favorite way of communicating with us.

Of course, if the dream is disturbing or recurs regularly and makes you feel uncomfortable then a standard counselor or psychologist might be helpful because there may be something that needs to be unpacked from your past that might need professional help.

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