Why do human beings have names?

Question

I never had a pet, but I have to ask... do animals (domesticated & wild) attribute importance to names by which they are called? Do they (in wild) have something similar to names to identify individuals and communicate?

If they do not, then from an evolutionary & psychological perspective, why do human beings like to assign "a lot of" meaning and value to their names? Why are human beings so narcissistic compared to other species?

Answer 1

Names are used to identify an individual. The human senses are not as fine tuned as those of animals. I don't think that animals, when communicating with themselves, use sounds in order to distinguish one another (although I cannot be sure) but I do know that scent plays a major role in identifying one another.

For example a dog recognizes people by their smell. When was the last time you "smelled" somebody coming? That brings up another point... We humans, because of excessive hygiene, mask are scents to the point that we are unrecognizable scent wise. I say we should abolish showers! Whose with me on this?

Answer 2

Humans are narcissistic because the feel as though they are the greatest creatures on this planet. So they need a name to identify themselves with. Also because many are insecure about themselves, they need a name to make their life have meaning.

Answer 3

They just found out that dolphins have names too. Other animals have specific calls that they use to find their mates, so that's kind of like names. Humans also have names to tell each other apart. If you turned in a paper and instead of writing your name on it you wrote "By brown haired, blue eyed male, 5'7''', it'd be a lot harder to figure out who it was than if you just said "By Joe."

Answer 4

If we didn't have names and you went 'oi!' to someone then probably everyone would come (if you were special but no one would come if you weren't special). So instead of going 'oi!' you went 'Alluishus' then I would assume only Alluishus would come which would minimise the onslaught of people but of course if you were insiginificant noboddy would come anyway whether or not you had a name.

Answer 5

Because we communicate verbally.
Some animals use smell to identify others so they will use `smells` and not names.

Answer 6

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Answer 7

It's all abou identity, which eases communication and makes living beings feel speacial & unique.
http://www.public-speaking-solutions.com/communication.html

Answer 8

because human beaings are thinking beings

Answer 9

they have names so the have their own idividuality =)

Answer 10

how the hell would you send a letter to someone?????????