Did the Vikings, or any cultures beyond those based in Europe have a tradition of naming their boats or ships? I can see the practicality of it, but I'm curious as to whether there's a religious or cultural reason that those such as the Vikings did not, as I can't find any evidence of it, or whether there's some specific reason as to why ship naming is a thing limited to Western Europe.
Viking ships had names.
In Norse mythology, the ships of the Gods had names.
"Skidbladnir", meaning perhaps "wood blade", was the ship of Freyr, said to be the best of ships.
"Hringhorni" was the name of Baldr's ship on which he was cremated after his death.
"Naglfar" meaning "nail farer", was the ship that will carry the dead to Ragnarok, the largest ship ever, built of all the nail clippings of generations of humans.
http://www.20000-names.com/boat_names_ship_names.htm
Actual, as well as mythical, Viking ships also had names. King Ofaf Tryggvasson of Norway's ship was called "Ormurinn Langi", which means "Long Serpent".
This King had at least two previous ships: 'Trana" and "Ormen Skamme" ("Short Serpent").
Earl Eirik of Norway had a ship called "Barden" ("Beard").
King Olav Haraldson (St. Olav) of Norway had a ship called "Visund" ("Bison"), which presumably had a bison head instead of a dragon head on the stem post.
King Sigurd Munn had a ship called "Reinen" ("Reindeer"), said by the sagas to have been the fastest ship ever built.
http://home.online.no/~joeolavl/viking/sagaships.htm
So, yes, the Vikings seemed to have named their ships. We know they named important and royal warships, and important mythological ships, but they may well have named all their ships.