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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/27532
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/27532
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Your characters may not have _names_, but they have to have some _identifiers._

Other examples in fiction:

- _Star Trek_'s Borg use designations which specify where each drone (individual) is in the hierarchy of its group, and where that group is attached to. _Seven of Nine, Tertiary Adjunct to Unimatrix 01_means that this drone is the third most important (9 of 9 is the most) but her specific task is _teritary_ to the lead drone (so not super critical), and her group is attached to a specific location (Unimatrix 01, the center of Borg "society").
- Larry Niven's [Kzinti](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kzin#Naming_convention)are addressed by their family relationships and then jobs and have to earn a name.
- In Ayn Rand's novella [_Anthem,_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthem_(novella))individuals are called by a combination of a word plus a number, and are raised in collective groups. Each individual refers to him- or herself with plural pronouns.
- In Ira Levin's [_This Perfect Day,_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/This_Perfect_Day) people are using fewer and fewer names; there are something like four names for men and four for women when the story starts. The protagonist's actual name is a string of characters, but his nickname is "Chip."
- I haven't read it, but in Margaret Atwood's [_The Handmaid's Tale,_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Handmaid%27s_Tale)the protagonist is "Offred," meaning _of Fred,_ belonging to Fred. Handmaidens are all given designations like this.
- In _The Bees_ by Laline Paull, the characters (all actual bees) are from various groups named after flowers and then given a number; the protagonist is Flora 717.
- In _The Force Awakens,_ we learn that stormtroopers are stolen from their families as children and raised in groups, and given only numerical designations. John Boyega's character originally had the designation FN-2187; it's Poe Dameron who later gives him the name Finn.

People will come up with ways to address one another. You as the author need to figure out how to delineate your characters so the reader can distinguish them. Nicknames, shortened versions of lengthy alphanumeric strings, epithets like The Gunslinger, The Doctor, the man with the thistledown hair — just be consistent in how you address each individual, and you'll be fine.

Original score: 5