Nomen est Omen: A Psychoanalytic Exploration of Names by Mikita Brottman, D.Phil

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

Psychotherapists do not always consider the importance of names in their work. Yet a name can carry secret wishes, internal conflicts, transgenerational traumas, and hidden identifications.

Mikita Brottman, PhD, will present on her paper, “Nomen Est Omen: A Psychoanalytic Exploration of Names.” She will discuss how personal names and naming are shaped by unconscious dynamics, implicit associations, cultural influences, and relationships to parents. Dr. Brottman will also analyze associations with certain names, names in relation to the structure of the ego, and the use of names in clinical practice.

Participants will leave with a deeper understanding of the significance of names within psychoanalysis and in the inner lives of their patients.

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 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.