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When the expression "[[Name-of-the-Father|the name of the father]]" first appeared in [[Lacan]]’s work, in the early 1950s, it is without capital letters and refers generally to the "[[prohibition|prohibitive role]]" of the "[[symbolic]] [[father]]" as the one who lays down the [[incest]] [[taboo]] in the [[Oedipus complex]].
<blockquote>"It is in the 'name of the father' that we must recognize the support of the symbolic function which, from the dawn of history, has identified his person with the figure of the law."<ref>{{E}} p.67</ref></blockquote>
===The 'No" of the Father=== From the beginning [[Lacan]] plays on the homophony of ''le nom du père'' (the name of the father) and ''le 'non' du père'' (the 'no' of the father), to emphasize the legislative and prohibitive function of the [[symbolic]] [[father]] --the 'no' of the [[incest]] [[taboo]]. In the French language, the expression “the name of the father” (''le nom du père'') is phonetically similar to the expression “the ‘no’ of the father” (''le ‘non’ du père'').Lacan plays on this similarity to emphasize the prohibitive function of the symbolic father (the ‘no’ of the [[incest]] [[taboo]]). The term is a play on the near-homonyms ''non'' and ''nom''. The "[[Name-of-the-Father]]" (''[[nom-du-père]]'') can be read the "'No' of the [[Father]]" (''non-du-père''). The 'No' refers to the [[symbolic]] [[prohibition]] The 'No' of the [[Father]] to the [[desire]] of the [[child]] for [[incest]]uous relations with the [[mother]]. The 'No' of the [[Father]] to the [[child]]'s [[incest]]uous [[desire]] for the [[mother]].
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