Nomen est Omen: A Psychoanalytic History into the Significance of Names by Mikita Brottman, D.Phil

Psychoanalytic Explorations is a series in which faculty members and students of the NOBPC, as well as interested members of the community, present and discuss issues of current concern to them. The focus will be on clinical practice, theoretical challenges, and non-clinical applications of psychoanalytic theory; all presentations are intended to deepen attendees’ ability to think psychoanalytically. Each session will begin with a presentation followed by questions and answers and open discussion, with the intention of facilitating relaxed, informal peer exchange.

Psychologists, Social Workers, and Licensed Professional Counselors may also receive continuing education credit for this activity if their accredited associations or boards recognize CME credits.

Discussion begins at 11am Central Time at NOBPC or Zoom

This paper considers the relevance of personal names and naming in relation to the unconscious. Yet a name can carry family wishes, cultural history, private associations, pride, shame, longing, or conflict. Particular attention will be paid to our associations with certain names and the use of names in clinical practice, with references drawn from current and historical psychoanalytic literature.

This presentation helps learners consider how names enter therapy and analysis not only as facts, but as meaningful signs of a patient’s inner and outer life related to identity, family history, cultural belonging, and unconscious meaning, and will be better prepared to recognize names as material when they arise in treatment.

Mikita Brottman is Professor of Literature at the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore. She has a D.Phil from Oxford University in English Language and Literature and is an NAAP certified psychoanalyst. She performs forensic evaluations for the National Institute for the study, prevention and treatment of sexual trauma. She is also the author of 15 nonfiction books, the latest of which, Guilty Creatures (Simon & Schuster, 2024) was described by the New York Times as “an unputdownable read”.

Learning Objectives:

• Describe the relevance and significance of naming in their own clinical practice
• Analyze how personal naming choices and resistance to naming conventions can reflect unconscious conflicts, desires, and cultural identifications
• Identify opportunities within clinical practice to explore naming as a symbolic act that reveals transgenerational themes, identity formation, and relational dynamics

Please join us at NOBPC or via Zoom. Participation is open to all. In-person space is limited so please register early.

Please click HERE for online registration. If you prefer to pay by check, please email nobpcenter@gmail.com.

Fee for 1.5 CME credits:

• NOBPC members $25
• Non-members $35
• Students $10

Zoom registration ends 24 hours before the event.

This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the accreditation requirements and policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) through the joint providership of American Psychoanalytic Association and NOBPC. The American Psychoanalytic Association is accredited by the ACCME to provide continuing medical education for physicians.

The American Psychoanalytic Association designates this live activity for a maximum of 1.5 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

The APsA CE Committee has reviewed the materials for accredited continuing education and has determined that this activity is not related to the product line of ineligible companies and therefore, the activity meets the exception outlined in Standard 3: ACCME’s identification, mitigation and disclosure of relevant financial relationship. This activity does not have any known commercial support.

Optional Readings:

• Knight, Z. G. (2018). “Speaking the names” of family as “speaking a place.” British Journal of Psychotherapy, 34(3), 428–442.
• Yadin, Z. S. (2016). Analyzing the patient’s first name in the search for identity. Contemporary Psychoanalysis, 52(4), 547–577.
• Waska, R. (2025). Name it, claim it, tame it: Modern Kleinian therapy and the challenge of change. The American Journal of Psychoanalysis, 85, 454–474.