Vasectomies by Dr Dick Chopp, and more physician aptonyms
Dr Richard "Dick" Chopp performs vasectomies at a urology practice in Austin, Texas.
That's not a joke. Dr Chopp is one of a number of physicians whose names describe their line of work -- often humourously or ironically. There are so many examples of this, in fact, that University of Lousville onomastician Frank Nuessel devoted several pages of his 1992 "The Study of Names" to this kind of name, which he calls an aptonym (also called aptronym).
Physician aptonyms were recently the subject of an article in the American Medical News. Alongside a handful of other amusingly named physicians, Dr Chopp makes an appearance:
Dick Chopp isn't the only doctor with a medically appropriate (or inappropriate, as the case may be) moniker -- there are plenty more, including a few Canadians as well.
PHYSICIAN APTONYMS
NOMINATIVE DETERMINISM
Is it possible the doctors listed above were destined, because of their names alone, to become physicians?
Some have suggested that people with aptonym names are in fact examples of a theory called "nominative determinism." (There's an admirably straight-faced article on Wikipedia on this subject, including a section on Jungian synchronicity. I'm a bit puzzled about that one; isn't synchronicity acausal by definition?)
Dr Richard "Dick" Chopp performs vasectomies at a urology practice in Austin, Texas.
That's not a joke. Dr Chopp is one of a number of physicians whose names describe their line of work -- often humourously or ironically. There are so many examples of this, in fact, that University of Lousville onomastician Frank Nuessel devoted several pages of his 1992 "The Study of Names" to this kind of name, which he calls an aptonym (also called aptronym).
Physician aptonyms were recently the subject of an article in the American Medical News. Alongside a handful of other amusingly named physicians, Dr Chopp makes an appearance:
"My patients call me Dick Chopp. They say, 'How did you get that name?' 'I say, 'It's mainly divine intervention.'
"It's always been fun for me. Everybody wishes they had my name."
He even gives out T-shirts to vasectomy patients. On the back, they read "I was 'chopped' at the Urology Team." Classy.Dick Chopp isn't the only doctor with a medically appropriate (or inappropriate, as the case may be) moniker -- there are plenty more, including a few Canadians as well.
PHYSICIAN APTONYMS
- Dr John Looney, adolescent psychiatrist, Durham, NC ("Psychiatric patients are coming in a state of unhappiness," he said in the AMNews article. "They really don't care if your name is Joseph Stalin as long as you can related to them and you're warm to them.")
- Dr Barret Hyman, obstetrician/gynecologist (source)
- Dr Joseph C Babey, pediatrician (source)
- Dr Eric M Knapp, anesthesiologist (he's actually a dental surgeon, not an MD)
- Dr Dwain Illman, emergency medicine specialist, Indianapolis, IN (source)
- Dr Stephen Tredwell, orthopedic surgeon, Vancouver, BC (source)
- Dr Ritchie A L Younger, cosmetic surgeon, Vancouver, BC (source)
- Dr Thomas Payne, Baton Rouge, LA ("The hardest thing is to try to laugh and make them think they're the first one to say something," he told AMNews. "I tell them my first name is Less.")
- Dr Kevin Blinder, retina surgeon, St Lousie, MO (A mentor once demanded he change his name before they co-published research, but he demurred. "My father would have been upset," he said.)
- Dr Robert Stubbs, genital cosmetic surgeon (including circumcisions, naturally), Toronto, ON (He learned his circumcision technique from a Chinese physician named Dr Long.)
- Dr David Butcher, GP, Prince George, BC (source)
- Dr D'Eath, surgeon & his partner, the anesthetist Dr Coffin (New Scientist)
- Dr Aikenhead, allergist (source)
- Dr David Hart, cardiologist, Columbus, Ohio (source; and he's not the only Dr Hart cardiologist)
- Drs AJ Splatt and Dr D Weedon, urologists, Britain (source)
NOMINATIVE DETERMINISM
Is it possible the doctors listed above were destined, because of their names alone, to become physicians?
Some have suggested that people with aptonym names are in fact examples of a theory called "nominative determinism." (There's an admirably straight-faced article on Wikipedia on this subject, including a section on Jungian synchronicity. I'm a bit puzzled about that one; isn't synchronicity acausal by definition?)