Too Long; Didn't Read
The concept of human identity stretches back thousands of years into unrecorded history. We assume that early hominins knew each other by sight, sound, smell, and touch, as animals do. The first recorded names go back to the dawn of ancient history, around 3000 BC. Ancient cultures generally used single names, what we might now consider a first name or given name, called mononyms. People sometimes receive new names to indicate a change in identity, such as when God renames Abram and Sarah to make them a great nation.