Anomia for people's names, a restricted form of transient epileptic amnesia

A 37-year-old man consulted after two episodes of transient anomia for people's names over a period of 6 months. The first episode lasted about 10 min and was restricted to an inability to remember his 2-year-old son's first name. The second, was limited to an inability to recall his daughter's first name for 5 min with clear abnormal experiential quality. Witnessed descriptions of the attacks confirmed the absence of any other cognitive impairment or motor automatisms. The neurological examination was normal except for hyposmia. Inter-ictal cognitive evaluation was normal apart from the anomia for people's names or retrieval of names of familiar people in his childhood on definition and on famous faces naming test. A wake electroencephalograph showed left temporal epileptiform abnormalities, following hyperpnea. On magnetic resonance imaging, quantitative analysis revealed a mildly decreased volume of the left hippocampus. The diagnosis of transient epileptic amnesia (TEA) was considered and the patient did not recur for 6 months under lamotriginum. Thus anomia for people's names may be the sole clinical manifestation of TEA. Such a clinical presentation may easily be overlooked. Treatment may prevent further recurrence and the installation of more important and permanent autobiographical memory impairment. Our observation may suggest an isolated system not only for people's knowledge, but for people's naming. It is consistent with the notion of proper name as pure referring expression.