What It Signifies When You Confuse Your Children’s Names, According to a Psychologist

Published April 15, 2026

Confusing your children’s names—or even mistakenly calling your child by the family dog’s name—is not necessarily something to worry about, according to an expert.

Dr. Samantha Deffler, an associate professor of psychology at York College of Pennsylvania, explained to Good Housekeeping that this phenomenon can be described as a “cognitive glitch” that is both “natural” and “very common.”

“Mothers, in particular,” Deffler shared in an earlier interview with NPR, “almost every mom I’ve spoken with admits, ‘I’ve definitely done this.’”

Deffler led research involving a survey of over 1,700 individuals, which revealed that more than half had experienced a relative confusing their name, while 95% reported being addressed by an incorrect name from a family member.

“I conducted this research before becoming a parent myself,” Deffler told Good Housekeeping. “Now that I am a mom, I find myself making the same naming errors my own mother made.”

She likened the brain’s method of storing information to a computer’s folder system, where selecting the wrong name is akin to opening an incorrect file within a folder.

“Our study showed that naming mistakes usually occur within a specific category, meaning the incorrect name used belongs to the same group,” Deffler told Good Housekeeping. “It would be unusual for a mother to call her child by a name outside the family category.”

This explains why a mother might call one child by a sibling’s name, or why a current partner might accidentally call you by the name of a previous romantic interest.

A well-known example is the character Ross Geller mistakenly saying “Rachel” instead of “Emily” at the altar in a famous episode of the TV show “Friends.”

However, Dr. Julie Dumas, an associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Vermont, reassures that such brief mix-ups are not necessarily indicative of cognitive decline or aging.

She emphasized that stress is a more likely cause.

“When you’re hurried, stressed, or juggling multiple tasks, you tend to rely on automatic mental responses to retrieve information—in this case, your child’s name,” she told Good Housekeeping. She added that it becomes concerning only if you fail to notice the error or if other memory issues arise.

Experts suggest slowing down and concentrating on the person you are addressing to ensure you use the correct name.

“For instance, my son Emmett’s name is so ingrained in my mind that I sometimes call my husband or even our cat by that name when I’m rushing around,” Dumas noted.