Are personal names universal?

Paul Ciszek (pciszek@nyx10.cs.du.edu)
8 Dec 1996 21:43:53 -0700

Has there ever been a culture in which some individuals do not have
personal names? Let me define my terms:

By "personal name" I mean a name given to an individual in addition to
any clan or family names that s/he may share with others

I realize there may be isolated pathological cases such as an abused
child not being given a name, but such cases would be unusual and
unexpected in the cultures in which they happened.

Finally, there may be cases where people are not refered to by name
by those who outrank them or vice versa (e.g., slaves and masters),
but the individuals would have a name among their own class.
This would still count as having a name.

I'm just curious about things shared by all cultures; as near as I can
tell, this sounds like one.

Paul Ciszek "Evolution is a theory that accounts for
variety, not superiority."
pciszek at nyx dot net -- Joan Pontius