So what name did you give your cadaver?

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.
Dr Who

Dr Who

Future MD...
10+ Year Member
7+ Year Member
15+ Year Member
Joined
Dec 30, 2004
Messages
876
Reaction score
4
At my school students usually give their cadavers names. Studies say that this helps somewhat deal with the experience of dissecting a human cadaver. So any memorable names for your cadaver? Last year there was one named conan because he had HUGE muscles, another male cadaver was named robo-dude because he had a metal knee and a penis pump. The profesors got so tired of students leaving him with a stiffy and the obvious jokes that followed that they cut the line. The cadaver at another table was named Ron Jeremy for... obvious reasons. If you dont know who Ron jeremy is, ask someone who does. So anyway, any imaginative names at your lab?
Members don't see this ad.
 
Dr Who said:
At my school students usually give their cadavers names. Studies say that this helps somewhat deal with the experience of dissecting a human cadaver. So any memorable names for your cadaver? Last year there was one named conan because he had HUGE muscles, another male cadaver was named robo-dude because he had a metal knee and a penis pump. The profesors got so tired of students leaving him with a stiffy and the obvious jokes that they cut the line. The cadaver at another table was named Ron Jeremy for... obvious reasons. If you dont know who Ron jeremy is, ask someone who does. So anyway, any imaginative names at your lab?
Click to expand...

vin diesel
 
I don't have anatomy until next semester.

But it seems like naming cadavers would make you more attached/closer to it. Unless of course you mean the snarky nicknames you guys are using so far.
 
Members don't see this ad :)
sentrosi said:
I don't have anatomy until next semester.

But it seems like naming cadavers would make you more attached/closer to it. Unless of course you mean the snarky nicknames you guys are using so far.
Click to expand...

Hope you dont get too close or "attached" to it. :laugh:
 
Our cadaver is named "Frank" because of how closely he resembles the Netter's.
 
I originally thought "Abra" would be a good name for our cadaver. Then, you can say you spent all day with "Abra cadaver".

However, we wound up naming ours "Otis" because he just looked like an old man who might have one of those old-timey names. This went on for a few days until we actually flipped the body and observed female genitalia. Feeling pretty stupid for not actually verifying this earlier, we promptly changed her name to "Otelle".

In our defense, that old lady had quite a masculine backside.
 
Rogue Synapse said:
I originally thought "Abra" would be a good name for our cadaver. Then, you can say you spent all day with "Abra cadaver".

However, we wound up naming ours "Otis" because he just looked like an old man who might have one of those old-timey names. This went on for a few days until we actually flipped the body and observed female genitalia. Feeling pretty stupid for not actually verifying this earlier, we promptly changed her name to "Otelle".

In our defense, that old lady had quite a masculine backside.
Click to expand...


You couldn't see the vagina from the backside? Or...lack of testicles at least?

Establishing gender was first on my list!

We named ours Brad because some law student at a party we were at begged us to name our cadaver after him. Kinda weird but hey.
 
Our cadavers already had names (their real ones). It's always strange to me to hear people talk about "naming" dead people. But, on the other hand, if we didn't know their names, I'm sure I would have named mine just to have a way to refer to her.
 
SitraAchra said:
You couldn't see the vagina from the backside? Or...lack of testicles at least?

Establishing gender was first on my list!
Click to expand...

Not to be too graphic, but I can definitely see how that would happen. A year of laying in the tank made most of our cadavers have a really flat (nasty) backside. Ours had long hair though, so that would have been our first clue if we hadn't already met her family :)
 
We named ours Bertha last year. When I got back from Christmas break, I had a message on my answering machine from a lady named Bertha. It was just weird, especially because no one has the number. I just get a lot of wrong number calls on it.
 
nothing imaginative, we just named him George


and our tanks had the gender tagged right on the outside, so no mistakes to be made!
 
Glenn. We were trying to think of something appropriate for our cadaver specifically, but joked using the generic old man's name in the meantime.... it stuck. :cool:
 
Members don't see this ad :)
I had Pedro. He had a Hercules 2000 penile implant. Our whole tank group was laughing so hysterically when I dissected the scrotal pump out and exclaimed,"He's got a Hercules 2000!" My anatomy professor wanted to know how I knew this information. It was clearly written on the pump.

The whole class enjoyed testing the inflation/deflation mechanism. Pump up, have sex, hit valve, no more erection. This fellow had died of bladder cancer and we could understand the need for the pump. We also saw all of the metastatic tumor rests in his spine and realized that he must have been in a considerable amount of pain before his death.

Pedro taught us loads about anatomy. His body was in perfect condition and his muscle development was excellent. I owe a portion of my surgical career to Pedro and his generous gift.

njbmd:)
 
We named him "Thor." He was middle-aged, well-muscled, and over six feet tall. Great anatomy. The people with the cachectic octogenarians were quite jealous. ;)
 
We named our cadaver Bob. He had great muscular anatomy, though he had quite a bit of arterial variation from Netter.

He did not have a penile implant nor did he need one. The profs liked to tag the deep dorsal on our cadaver for very good reasons.
 
Bertha. She's large.
 
My group named our cadaver "Mary" because, of all the cadavers in our class, Mary had a textbook-perfect "M" in the brachial plexus.
 
We called ours The Admiral because of the Navy tattoos on his forearms.
 
Wow, we're not allowed to name our cadavers at all at SLU. They gave us direct instructions not to name them. I heard that you're not allowed to name them at USC either.
 
Andy15430 said:
We called ours The Admiral because of the Navy tattoos on his forearms.
Click to expand...
Ours was in the Marines.

and Pewl, our course director came out and told us that they're aware that most groups name their cadaver, and that was fine with them.
 
My group's was named Sebastian. For neuroanatomy, my group's brain was named Luigi.
 
During the school year my groups cadaver ended up being called Harvey. We had a slim Jim in the class and a Mable. Everyone knew everyone else's cadavers by the names we'd given them.

During the summer when we did a prosection we named the cadaver Katie cause that sounded like her real initials, K. D.

We aren't suposed to get their real names just how old they were and what they died from.
 
I think it's ridiculous that the administrations try and rule gross lab with an iron fist. If people want to name their cadaver, who cares? I think all the pomp and circumstance attached is annoying. They donated their bodies intentionally. As long as we learn as much as possible with minimal unnecessary mutilations, what's the harm in joking around a bit?

I like how laissez-faire my school is about it. Just let the students do their thing, no one's worse for the wear.
 
SitraAchra said:
I think it's ridiculous that the administrations try and rule gross lab with an iron fist. If people want to name their cadaver, who cares? I think all the pomp and circumstance attached is annoying. They donated their bodies intentionally. As long as we learn as much as possible with minimal unnecessary mutilations, what's the harm in joking around a bit?

I like how laissez-faire my school is about it. Just let the students do their thing, no one's worse for the wear.
Click to expand...

One of our professors told a story about another school where the students are told not to name their cadavers and there was a pretty geniune reason why. It was because all of the people who donated their bodies already had names and it wasn't the students' place to give them a different one.

that being said, my school doesn't care one way or the other :rolleyes:
 
Rose. Somebody thought it sounded like an old lady's name. It appears Rose was a very small, and slender woman at the end of her life.
 
We named ours Calvin, after the president at the time of his birth.
 
Tony326 said:
One of our professors told a story about another school where the students are told not to name their cadavers and there was a pretty geniune reason why. It was because all of the people who donated their bodies already had names and it wasn't the students' place to give them a different one.

that being said, my school doesn't care one way or the other :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

I just think it's easy to get too sentimental about it. I don't connect the cadaver with the actual person it once was. I respect the fact they were so generous in donating, but I'm not going to say a prayer and toss rose petals every time I hoist the bad boy out of the murk and into the light.
 
Ours was Frank. Had nothing to do with Netter, just sounded like a good name for him. Months later (our dissections lasted from August to February), he developed a foul odor, and his moniker was appended with "the stank". Sadly, we were visited by other groups much less often.

Sorry, Frank.
 
a friend's group named theirs, Ernest - so they were always digging in earnest
 
"Tex" or sometimes "Big Tex"

He was kind of short but solid as a rock. The guy was a former steel mill worker -- enough said.
 
Our's was Marty, cause it was tattoed on his arm. Figured it was either his name, or some woman who was coming back to haunt him even in death.:eek: And he smelled, bad enough were even the course director commented and backed away. But still greatful he donated his body for us.
 
Her name is Ethel. And my group will be having the "Ode to Ethel" party at the end of the semester, which should include a bunch of alcohol. In my opinion, that is exactly the way Ethel would have wanted it.
 
I think naming the cadaver infers respect instead of a lack of it. I feel like if my Cadaver didn't have a name we would be referencing as "it" and the body would become objectified. By giving him a name, we are acknowledging that this was once a person and since we don't know his name we gave him one since people deserve names.
 
Ours is Ruby, because she seems to be a lot more red-colored than the other cadavers.
 
I, too, feel a little weird about giving a name when he already had a name. Our group hasn't given a name yet (although my tankmates have new suggestions every day). But I just call him "Sir", as in at the end of the lab day, "Thank you, sir. See you tomorrow." (No, I do not bear any resemblance to Marcy from Peanuts) When talking amongst tank groups, it seems most people around us use "Our guy", "Our lady", "Can I see your guy's brachial plexus?", etc.

I do like the name of "Frank" for those Netter's models! Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, our guy has had just about every variation that we've covered so far. I didn't realize so many things were optional!
 
We named our patient/cadaver, "Emma."

Our group always says "Emma has," we never say, "our cadaver has"
 
We called our cadaver "Maestro" because he was our most intimate teacher of anatomy.

I, too, think naming is more respectful than callous, since most of us are not given our cadaver's real names for confidentiality. That being said, the names should be respectful! (not that I think the guys would mind their big slongs being duly noted! :D )
 
I was originally calling her Elanor,but then one of my friends informed me that she intends to name her first daughter Elanor. Hopefully no one is intending use the name Myrtle...that's what I'm going with right now...I feel bad just refering to her as "she" even though I know the naming can be frowned upon.
 
Rogue Synapse said:
I originally thought "Abra" would be a good name for our cadaver. Then, you can say you spent all day with "Abra cadaver".

However, we wound up naming ours "Otis" because he just looked like an old man who might have one of those old-timey names. This went on for a few days until we actually flipped the body and observed female genitalia. Feeling pretty stupid for not actually verifying this earlier, we promptly changed her name to "Otelle".

In our defense, that old lady had quite a masculine backside.
Click to expand...

The table next to mine named theirs "Abra" for "Abra Cadaver." They also named ours Miss Stiffany.
:laugh:
 
we named ours "clyde". he's got a wonderful amount of stinky fat and tons of tattoos. definitely navy. and we think he was a total lady's man since he has a naked woman tattoo on his inner thigh.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Next unread thread

Similar threads

P
Give me some ideas of what to apply into (bad student)
Replies
8
Views
962
mrbreakfast
M
B
Did I mess up this interview?
Replies
8
Views
767
Mr.Smile12
Mr.Smile12
S
Those with red flags, how did the match go?
Replies
11
Views
1K
GoSpursGo
GoSpursGo
C
What did you give up?
Replies
39
Views
4K
stickgirl390
stickgirl390
K
Anyone who loved obgyn but didn't pursue it? What did you do?
Replies
18
Views
2K
stickgirl390
stickgirl390
Top