Magician pretended to take a name (6)
I believe the answer is:
shaman
'magician' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)
'pretended to take a name' is the wordplay.
'pretended' becomes 'sham' (sham can mean pretended or fake).
'to take' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'name' becomes 'n' (common abbreviation e.g. on forms).
'sham'+'a'+'n'='SHAMAN'
(Other definitions for shaman that I've seen before include "Tribal medicine man" , "who practises a form of spiritualism?" , "16 21 [INDIAN IMPORT]" , "Asian doctor-priest" , "Man of spirit" .)