Discusses the proposed existence of a relationship between a person's name and her/his sense of identity and self. Studies of personal identity, names and self-acceptance, and attention and memory for one's name are reviewed. A common method of studying identity is the use of questionnaires of the "Who Am I" variety. Psychologists and sociologists have investigated names and spontaneous self-concept and names and the development of self-identity. Experiments have shown that the mention of one's name by others has the power to elicit the individual's attention. Experiments with memory have hinted that memories for personal and self-relevant information may be organized around names and accessed by means of them. (French abstract) (29 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
