Names Are Not Used Here!

    Of course names are used here. Cobb, well what else would the Prisoner call an ex-colleague, and possible old friend, he had just seen on a hospital ward? Then there is Nadia who got herself close to Number 6. Of course he used her name, but Nadia never once asked him his name. And what about Fotheringay, but I expect he doesn’t really count seeing as he  wasn’t an inmate of The Village. Alison, she’s an inmate, I wonder how she and Number 6 came together? Of their own volition, or was Number 2 behind it all the time? No, I should think Number 2 recognised that Alison and Number 6 had a genuine rapport. He then applied pressure and put the situation to his own advantage. And Curtis, he soon gave his name away to Number 6, who then discovered Susan's name, written on a photograph found in Curtis' wallet.
    You see it's when old friends meet, or new friends are made in The Village that citizens use each others names, well apart from The Prisoner’s name. It’s a pity the Prisoner didn’t use the names of ‘A and B,’ as Number 6 and ‘A’ were once colleagues, friends even. But I suppose ‘A’ over stepped the mark when he defected. As for ‘B’ Number 6 appeared to be very much at ease with her, even though she did work for the other side, he seemed to know her very well.
    And we know the name of at least one Number 2, Mrs. Butterworth, if that really is her name, perhaps she can be afforded the benefit of the doubt, and of course Martha. Even the Prisoner gave a name when asked by Mrs. Butterworth..."Smith...Peter Smith." Oh and there’s Thorpe, as with Fotheringay we only know his surname, which is more than can be said of both cases of Colonels, we only know their rank, which suggests Army Intelligence! And yet we learn the name of one Colonel, one who worked in the field so to speak, Hawke-Englishe. Although such names as these are used well beyond the “outer Zone” of The Village. However they are an indication of how names can go unused in the outside world. Indeed the only other names we hear within the previous sphere of the Prisoner’s work and personal life, are Janet Portland, Sir Charles Portland, Potter, Jacob Seltzman, and Danvers. The Prisoner’s name we never hear spoken, not even by his fiancée!
    And then comes another old friend and colleague of the Prisoner’s, Roland Walter Dutton. He was surprised to see his ex-colleague, perhaps he thought the Prisoner too clever to let himself be captured. Or that he might be on the other side, I wonder if he knew about the Prisoner’s resignation? Perhaps not, by the way Dutton talked it's possible that he had been in The Village a longish time, otherwise he wouldn’t have asked how London is.
    Monique happens to be the last Christian name we hear spoken in The Village, and that‘s just the once, by her father. Monique went looking for Number 6’s help to prevent an assassination. And yet there were also personal reasons, her father. Number 51 had become embroiled in a plot to assassinate the retiring Number 2, and Monique quite naturally, wanted to save her father from the repercussions that his actions would cause. And yet although Monique and Number 6 worked together to counter the machinations of an interim Number 2, they are not close. In fact Number 6 never utters Monique’s name once, unlike Alison, and that was only the once. And finally even The Girl Who Was Death had been given a name.....Sonia. Although the name is never used in the episode, it is credited to Justine Lord in the closing credits.
   They might be against relationships and friendships developing in The Village, but there are times when they cannot be avoided, if old friends and colleagues happen to meet for example, or especially if you bring father and daughter to The Village! Names are not used in The Village, generally speaking, but isn’t that worse for the Prisoner, he doesn’t even use his number, except when it suits him to do so!

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