The denial of women’s basic identity in public is emblematic of how deep misogyny runs in this society, when even male schoolchildren often get into fights to defend their honor, which they are taught is besmirched if someone mentions their mother’s or sister’s name.

Hassan Rizayee, an Afghan sociologist, said the custom was rooted in tribal ways of life.

“According to tribal logic, the important thing is the ownership of a woman’s body,” Mr. Rizayee said. “The body of a woman belongs to a man, and other people should not even use her body indirectly, such as looking at her. Based on this logic, the body, face and name of the woman belong to the man.”

Reversing such deeply ingrained traditions will take a long time, he said, including changing what children are taught.

“This is a traditional and cultural issue; it needs a long-term cultural struggle and fight,” he said. “By weakening tribal cultures, and awareness through the media, this type of thinking about woman could be changed.”

Somaia Ramish, a member of the Herat provincial council, recently wrote that women had been “erased systematically” throughout history and reduced to their relations with men.

“The child comes out of the mother’s womb, but in no document relating to the child — from infancy to old age — does the mother’s name get registered,” she said in an online article. “The interesting thing, however, is that the mother then, out of habit and tradition, becomes identified by the child. The woman whose name has no place in laws all of a sudden becomes ‘the mother of Ahmad’ or ‘the mother of Mahmoud.’”

Ms. Ramish wrote that she had noticed the gravity of the problem when the Afghan president, Ashraf Ghani, in his inaugural speech three years ago, mentioned his wife by name. There was so much surprise, she wrote, “as if no one had heard a woman’s name before.”