This Dr. has a weird name....

Shogun · May 27, 2010

Canadian Medicine: 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:

"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)

Mari Stoddard, a medical librarian at the University of Arizona, has a fantastic list of physician aptonyms -- too many to list here -- on her website. Some are almost too good to be true, I think. A respirologist named Dr Pipe? An infertility specialist named Dr Blank? A urologist named Dr Alden Cockburn?! But Ms Stoddard claims they're all real. There's another good list, which overlaps with Ms Stoddard's, here.
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Tha Professor · May 27, 2010

He even gives out T-shirts to vasectomy patients. On the back, they read "I was 'chopped' at the Urology Team." Classy.
Click to expand...

You'd be a walking pick-up line.

Neptune Bassist · May 28, 2010

i laughed pretty hard at the Dr. Robert Stubbs

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This Dr. has a weird name....

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This Dr. has a weird name....

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Tha Professor PhD in kicking your ass. Gold Member

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Tha Professor PhD in kicking your ass.
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