Aptronyms of Medical Specialists

An aptronym(also called Aptonyms) is a name aptly suited to its owner. I first came across the word in an engagingly funny article by V.S. Jayaschandran in The Week, where he refers to a well known neurologist called Lord Russell Brain who succeeded a Dr Henry Head as the Editor of a prominent Journal on Neurosciences called Brain. I realized that my late father too had an Aptronym. His name was Paulose (a Syrianized version of Paul). The people in Salem (Tamilnadu, India), where he practiced dentistry, ended up calling him Palu loose which roughly translates in Tamil/ English as loose teeth. It certainly helped his profession. I have another friend who is specialized as a Paediatric Dentist. Dr Baby John. Of course it would have been even more apt if he was a Paediatric Urologist.
I trawled the internet looking for some more aptronyms in the medical profession and came up with quite a few interesting ones. Dr Ima Assman’s special area of interest is obvious. He is a Proctologist.(1) Dr Knapp puts people to sleep. He is an anaesthetist (2) just like Dr John Bagwell (3). Dr Au (pronounced ‘ow’) is a dentist the specialty most often associated with pain just like Dr John Payne and Dr David Toothaker (3). There are of course other dentists with esoteric aptronyms. Les Plak who practices in San Francisco is on the preventive side of dentistry whereas Dr Tom Fillar appears to favour restoration of teeth (4)
I would have thought that Charles Butt would be interested in the hind areas but it turns out that he is the spokesman for an anti-tobacco group in Nova Scotia. No Cigarette Butts for him!!
It is inevitable for an Urologist with the name Richard to not be an aptronym. This is because all Richards are referred to as Dicks. So it is not surprising that Dr Dick (Richard) Chop is an urologist with a particularly brisk practice in circumcisions. His practice associate in Austin, Texas is coincidently Dr Hardman. I may assume that he is an Urologist with a special interest in andrology (a personal assumption) who prescribes loads of Viagra. Dr Dick Tapper, Dr Dick Finder etc are the other urologists by virtue of their first names. Urologists appear to be the most colourful of the aptronyms. We therefore have Dr Waters, Dr Gherkin, Dr Splatt, Dr Wong, Dr Wang and Dr Stone (5) amongst others who practice urology.
It would not be difficult to identify an Ophthalmologist with a name like Dr I. Doctor. On the other hand you may be wary of eye specialists with names like Luis V. Nosce (pronounced as ‘no see’) or Dr Wong See !!
No marks for guessing the specialty of these aptronyms - Dr Childs, Dr Small, Dr Bunny, Dr Tickles, Dr Toy and Dr Kidd – Of course they are all Paediatricians (5)
Dr Bonebrake, Dr Butcher, Dr Bones and Dr Bender (5) are all Orthopedic Surgeons. However Dr Dick Bone, though an osteopath, seems to belong to the league of Sexual Medicine, going by his name.


If you have gone crazy reading this article, you may want to look out for one these doctors - Dr Strange, Dr Quirk, Dr Dippy, Dr Moodie, Dr Nutter, Dr Nutt; Dr Looney, Dr Crabb, Dr Dement. Psychiatrists- all of them! (5)
All the names and specializations given above are real ones reported from lists of Medical Practitioners mostly in USA and Canada. The references and citations from where the Aptronyms have been sourced is given below. The author has used his liberty to make a few harmless assumptions for effect.
George Paul



1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aptronym
2. http://homepage.mac.com/chapmandave/aptonyms/index2.html#list
3. http://homepage.mac.com/chapmandave/aptonyms/en/list.html#a
4. http://www.strangecosmos.com/content/item/25079.html
5. http://humor.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?zi=1/XJ&sdn=humor&cdn=entertainment&tm=19&gps=305_695_1020_632&f=00&su=p504.1.336.ip_&tt=11&bt=1&bts=0&zu=http%3A//www.u.arizona.edu/%7Estoddard/doctor.htm