The Nameless

So I've noticed a trend. A lot of my favorite fairytale characters are nameless. They have no names. No names may be mentioned throughout the story. Some examples are:

The Little Match Girl
The Princess and the Pea
The Goose Girl
The Little Mermaid
The Twelve Dancing Princesses

Even a more recent book: The Polar Express only mentions the name on one character, Billy, and a few others by titles instead of names; "Hero Boy", "Hero Girl", etc.

Googling to see if I could find any others to list above, I realized by finding on a site that they mention the parables Jesus tells. He gives titles or mentions the characters by their jobs - "the sower" for example. Why? Was giving names to the characters taking away from the blatant moral of the story that was the main point in the Savior telling these parables? If this was Jesus' preferred method of storytelling, I say it is worth a closer look.

These stories are timeless and classic and fantastical. They're beautiful and the kind I can't wait to read to my own children. And you know what? I didn't realize until today that the characters were nameless. Some had titles, but none of the above in the original versions had actual names. Does that take away from the story? I don't think so. I think it's because of the kind of stories that these are.

These stories are not told in the same way as the Hunger Games or the Percy Jackson series, for example. Both of those have first person narrative, and are meant to grab your attention as a reader for a very long time - for a few books, at least. The tales and parables that feature nameless characters are meant to be short - and I think it takes the focus away from the character and puts the spotlight onto the actual story. The 'nameless' stories also are generally shorter - I don't know of a series that features a nameless character (a successful one, that is). I don't think it would work to grab reader's attention if the main character was nameless during a whole series. I don't think it's possible for them to connect as well over such a long period of time.

They're also generally told in the third person. Referring to the characters by their "title": the "Eldest Princess", "The Little Mermaid", "The Little Match Girl", etc. Polar Express may or may not follow this rule - unfortunately I don't have the book handy to check.

Anyway, that's about all I have to say about it, I just found it interesting. Have a wonderful rest of the day!