Jesus asked him, “What is your name?”

“Legion,” he replied, because many demons had gone into him. And they begged Jesus repeatedly not to order them to go into the Abyss. Luke 8:30-31

            It’s interesting that demons have names.  It gives them identity.  In the case of the demon possessed man, it appears he had multiple demons and the name Legion refers to the demonic team (kind of like “Dodgers” or “Eagles”).  Jesus may have asked the demon his name to reveal to those around that there were multiple entities in this person, so they knew what he was working with.  Then, it made sense why the demon would be cast into multiple pigs.

            Also, Jesus asked a demon his name from a position of authority.  A general could see a private and ask, “What’s your name, private?”  The private would never walk up to a general and ask, “What’s your name, general?”  It’s kind of like the phrase—Jesus was taking names.