ping using name instead of ip

Before I used to use fixed addresses on my systems and had the data in
the hosts file. Now with DHCP, the host files don't know who's around.
There is really no need for me to use DHCP, but I thought I'd use it to
learn some stuff. Do I have to make my DHCP server (it's all one box
anyway right now) a DNS server? Or?
pete