How do you want to be called?

Questions about the proper name in the analysis

Abstract

The proper name is a theme of which the Psychoanalysis occupates itself, especially since Jacques Lacan. This author conceives the name as a brand that makes us particular. Our name is given to us by other people, but, by the insertion in the language’s world, the way we respond to it in neurosis needs to be taken into consideration. In regard to the work of an analysis, Lacan warns us to pay attention to the name the patient chooses to be called by the analyst, signaling that this choice is not an ordinary thing, because it is related to matters of subject. This article intends to bring attention to the discussion about the proper name in the analysis and to the subject’s choice in relation to how they will respond to this name. For this, we initially approach the definition of name in the Brazilian context; then, we point out questions placed by Psychoanalysis about the naming process for the discussion that follows: what the subject wishes to be called and wherein implies his/her convocation.