Laudator Temporis Acti

R.M. Ogilvie, The Romans and Their Gods in the Age of Augustus (London: Chatto & Windus, 1969), p. 24:

Gods, like dogs, will only answer to their names. Living as we do in an age in which numbers (national health numbers, bank account numbers, telephone numbers etc.) identify people more easily than names, it is hard for us to understand the power which more primitive people attribute to names. But a trivial example of the survival of this idea is given by Ronald Knox when he points out how boys at school often try to conceal their Christian names and prefer to be called by a nick-name, because to reveal your Christian name is to give other boys a hold over you.¹ The same idea lies behind the Gnat’s advice to Alice to lose her name: ‘For instance, if the governess wanted to call you to your lessons, she would call out “Come here—”, and there she would have to leave off, because there wouldn’t be any name for her to call, and of course you wouldn’t have to go, you know.’

¹ Pastoral Sermons, p. 37.