MCI Cultural Journal #9: All in a Name

I've been talking with a lovely lass on the bus to Galway named Marie. Marie and I were discussing something interesting about how the Irish don't say their names nor do they introduce themselves. It's as if the hospitality is kept at arm's length.

You can talk for hours to someone in the local pub without ever finding out their name. It's really rather intriguing. Everyone is so friendly here, yet the name, which Americans would consider as fundamental to one's identity, or definition of such, is never exchanged. Granted, Ireland is a much more homogenized country and culture than is the States. I always joke with my foreign friends that if you have fifteen minutes, any American can tell you his or her life story in such a brief amount of time after initial introductions. Not only do they share this information so quickly, but they do it in such an easy, breezy manner. Details the Irish might consider unmentionable, are commonplace for Americans to drop in conversation.

For example, an American might detail every illness or medical situation requiring hospitalization in the course of these conversations, sometimes to complete strangers. Doubt this? Try sitting next to a blue-haired old lady in an orthopedics office, and you'll see what I mean. This information is just too personal for an Irishman to tell anyone, much less a complete stranger. Perhaps it's a case of the Irish simply being a more private people, or of not wishing to burden anyone else with their troubles. And while telling someone your name is much less of a blip on the privacy warning screen, learning one's name does present a conundrum.

Once you know someone's name, you have a personal attachment to them. Their name alludes to a backstory, a history, an ethnicity, the very identity of that person. Knowing all of those things suddenly complicates an otherwise innocuous meeting. Not many would say that "Jessica," the girl you met at the hair salon waiting to get your color done is suddenly a friend. Chances are, you'll never see "Jessica" ever again. For the Irish, there is an innate familiarity with each other, because hey, we're all Irish. So in that sense, the name is unneeded. I don't think I'll every truly get an answer to the reason this phenomenon occurs, but it is interesting to ruminate upon.