Confusing particular names for
one another, for example 'Sarah' for 'Lisa' and vice versa.
Similar to dyscalculia, wherein someone may believe that 5+
6=10, dysnomia can strike at any time with the sufferer being nonetheless completely unaware. Most commonly dysnomia occurs when meeting another person for the first time and exchanging names as part of the initial greeting: "
Hi, my name'
s Lisa..." and the conversation then continues and after
ten minutes of talking the other person confidently bids them farewell, unintentionally substituting another name for the person'
s actual name, only to be corrected.
Dysnomia can cause offence and insult to the person whose name has been misremembered, and confusion and embarrassment to the person with difficulty remembering the names.
ORIGIN: coined in
German from dys- ‘
difficult’ + Latin nomen ‘name’.
"
Sorry Lisa, I often confuse the names Sarah and Lisa, it'
s my dysnomia... Oh, I meant
sorry Sarah... You know what I mean."
