Did any civilizations in history not have the concept of giving individual people names to identify them?

by maxlot13
timtak

The Balinese had random, unique, private personal names but rarely used them. See Gertz on pages 368 - 370.

https://chairoflogicphiloscult.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/clifford-geertz-the-interpretation-of-cultures.pdf
This lack of the use of personal names becomes the foundation for his claim that the Balinese experience time as a "motionless present," with step-like jumps.

Further, in case you are interested, I find the same to be true of Japan where also there is not much use of personal names, and a sudden jumping between age defined roles. To illustrate this point I show my students a variety of pictures of myself and my son at various ages asking them what the pictures show. I then rearrange them into two sets of two. Boys and men and Ray (my son) and Tim (myself). I argue, or point out, after Geertz that there is no time in the first two sets but in the second, where I age from a cute little boy into the bald old geezer that I am now, that time is unequivocally passing, in motion, in the Tim line.