I made myself sad writing this…
Thing. Thing that is me- wake up. Open eyes Thing, time to re-sustenate.
Conner opens his eyes.
Low light in not-tube-place; open door, Thing.
Conner sleeps in his closet more often than not; he will not say it out loud, but he misses his pod, at CADMUS. He reaches forward and slides open the door of his closet- the slats do not let in enough light to see by.
Thing misses tube-place; Cave is better, but tube-place was familiar.
A name is a quality with utility. As a quality, it identifies who you are, and if you don't have one, others
-Thing knows others now- Robin who smells of blood; Kid Flash-Wally who sounds like electricity at the edges; Aqualad-Kaldur who has the soothing voice; Miss Martian-Megan-M'gann who Thing likes very much; Artemis who is afraid… Thing knows others now-
may find it more challenging to refer to you, and the ability to refer to and identify a subject is integral to complex communication. In English, it'd be naturally troubling to explain to someone that you wanted a chair if the word "chair" was nonexistent.
There are so many words Thing didn't need before but Thing has them- like good and bad and pretty and why- Thing uses them now, too…
It has utility in that, you use it to sign it on your checks, greet others, and label your property. A unique name, such as "John", accomplishes these actions by helping separate you from the rest of the world, while a general name, such as "person", does not.
Conner walks into the kitchen. He is adjusting to eating well enough; he never had to eat food before.
Thing has so many choices now- what will Thing have today for First?
Conner was never sure what "his name" was supposed to be; sometimes he would wonder if it was just a personal quirk of his that made him call himself "Thing". Perhaps his CADMUS programming?
But no, that could not be: he is a sentient being- a creature with thoughts and feelings he can express.
He was not allowed to, before.
A name is not important in that it is not a necessary quality to have, however it may be an important factor to include when it becomes, quite literally, the subject in language.
There are two ways to call something- a living breathing being- an "It"; many ways to deny its ability for sentience (none of them work) but these two are verbal. The speaker calls the thing "It", which distances the speaker from the subject; the speaker calls it "Thing" which alienates the speaker from the subject. Neither are appropriate names for a person.
Superboy- Conner- was called some variation on both "Thing" and "It" his entire life.