Why is it important to have a name?

Answer 1

Well, let's take a little hypothetical scenario...

You have a friend who doesn't have a name, who we'll refer to as "________". Whenever you want to speak to this friend, you just say, "Hello, ______," or leave out the name entirely. ________ also has a sibling named ________, whose name is also shared by the household's parents. The ________ family typically gives generic birthday cards without names on themand sends letters without senders' names on them, only closings, and their designated patch in the local cemetery is just full of blank headstones.

Mr. ________ has a wonderful driver's licence without a name on it, and though he's an exceptional driver, he has been caught speeding a couple of times and had to face the embarrassment of the policeman not knowing what to write in his ticket book and wondering if the licence was valid. Whenever he goes to buy groceries, the clerks always give him funny looks because of his lack of name (although they seem to forgive it). The worst part, though, is when Mr. or Mrs. ________ has to register for some sort of bank account on-line and has to type in a name. The form always complains that they can't just leave the fields blank, so they've always had to special-register their accounts over the phone.

________ (your friend) recently got an award for outstanding performance. However, there was a slight problem when it came time to break the news: there was no name to call, so instead the epithet "quirky programmer with a messy desk" was used. Your friend, though much more amused than offended, secretly wished they'd have picked something else.

Immigrating to the country to begin with, as Mr. ________ explained, was a lot of trouble. Not only was he told to pick a constant surname, as some Icelanders are, for example, but he was actually told to pick a given name and a middle name too. He refused, insisting that a lack of name was family tradition, and as a result it took a full three weeks before they finally got his records sorted out and let him immigrate. On a few documents where they weren't allowed to leave the names blank, they had to record him as "None None None", which he personally finds a lot less elegant than "________ ________ ________". However, he does acknowledge that None N. None has a certain ring to it.

Answer 2

Having a name is important because it is a fundamental part of our identity and helps us to distinguish ourselves from others. Names also play a practical role in communication, identification, and building relationships within society.