REFERENCE problem with parent_table

 Hello

I need many tables of type "id" and "name", see below:
      CREATE TABLE id_names (
      id            smallint        CONSTRAINT the_id PRIMARY KEY NOT NULL,
      name        text            CONSTRAINT the_name UNIQUE
    ) WITH OIDS;
therefore I created these tables with the "LIKE" operator, see below:
    CREATE TABLE like_id_1( LIKE id_names INCLUDING DEFAULTS ) WITH OIDS;
    CREATE TABLE like_id_2 ( LIKE id_names INCLUDING DEFAULTS ) WITH OIDS;
    CREATE TABLE like_id_3 ....
 Next I can't create a table with some column reference to any of the last two tables, see below:
    database=# CREATE TABLE ref_1 ( id_1 smallint CONSTRAINT the_id_1 REFERENCES like_id_1 (id) );
    ERROR:  there is no unique constraint matching given keys for referenced table "like_id_1"
 Obviously if I use "id_names" instead of "like_id_1" every think is fine but my idea is not create thousands of almost same tables with the table name's like the only one difference. Then I thought to use the operator "LIKE", but you see, there are a problem. Any Idea about what must I do ??

  Thank you,
           Gustavo