Arun/Andrei is the name his family gave him. Horrible things happened, someone "rescued" him, gave him a new frame of conduct, expectations of who to be, changed his faith, language, and, to crown these radical modifications to his existence, his name was changed to Amadeo.
This got repeated, and his name got changed again, again by those who modified his existence, not by himself.
And this made me wonder, has Armand kept that name because that's how he sees himself, a soldier, an arm man? Is he still acting like the cultist gremlin because he carries that name? If Lestat, Louis, or Daniel gave him another name, would his behaviour change? Would he assume himself differently?
I see why Armand wouldn't dare to call himself Amadeo, because he can't be that without Marius, and even if Marius is alive, the dynamic as it was is forever lost. But, at least in the show, he drastically changes his behaviour when Louis calls him Arun. Why won't he change his name to that himself? Why won't he deny Amadeo and Armand? Why will he only accept the identity change when someone else is the one who does itto him?
And it's not as if names had a magical power and he would drastically and automatically change how he behaves. But names do carry identity weight. Instead of seeing names, let's look at it as if it were an adjective. To be called a human weapon, to be called the object of love of the divine, etc., and to have everyone who refers to you use that adjective—it does something. Also identity is big issue for him. Identity given by others. The fact that the individual who loved him the most have that love conditionally thought molding him. And that is what he understands as love.
And as I wonder all of these, I feel I'm taking away agency from the character to a big degree, but Armand, more in the series than in the book, is all about that. He might have agency, tons of it, a huge capacity for action, but he doesn't believe he does and therefore denies it. So idk.
