I have a hard time understanding heavier accents and I get super embarrassed when I don't understand and won't ask for clarification.

Hey, Aims is me!

I'm a giant bigot and avoid anyone with an Italian/Spanish sounding name, because I've found that I can end up with a GP who is geared towards Spanish speaking populations and isn't so hot on actual American English. And of course, once I get to the office, I only ever interact with the bitchy subdoctor who makes me want to never go in for a cold (like now) because she focuses on all the other shit I'm ignoring that's wrong with me. (this is a terrible thing to be bitching about, but, if I go in for a cold, I want to be treated for a cold, not whatever else you find that I'm happy to ignore for now).

I don't care about ethnicity, but I'm an education snob. I look at the schools they went to.

I have picked doctor's based on the coolness of their name. My current primary care doc is named Minerva and I did choose her because I like her name. Because what else did I have to go on? But not because it's a more competent name than the other options, because I just arbitrarily like it.

I can't imagine a name that would make me not see that doctor, though. Slash, maybe? Probably for some people Igor would be troubling, but that's my dad's name, so, different associations for me. Would Dr. Nevaeh Whatever or Dr. Apple Something worry me? Well, I wouldn't choose them over Minerva, but I'd certainly see them if that's how things shook out.

Shrift! I would love to see Othello and Macbeth at the Music Box!

I need to find a doc (and dentist) but I never would have thought about picking based on name. Unless someone has a seriously cool name.

I just go on recomendations from friends, and I'm kind of bummed, because my current doctor is no longer a preferred provider for my insurance company. I may just pay the extra and be extra vigilant on where the tests get sent, because she's the only doctor I've had where the pap smears didn't hurt (much).

I don't know that I've ever chosen a specific GP myself. My folks picked my pediatrician, in college I started going to the practice they'd switched to after their crooked GP went up the river for child molestation, and when my initial doctor in that practice decided to quit in favor of race car driving my parents' excellent GP took over his patients. Other than Pedo!Doc I've been more than happy with every doctor I've lucked into.

I am totally a name snob, and I think for a lot of people those things operate nearly subconsciously. Would you explicitly choose to see Dr. Sarah Dawson over Dr. Tiffiny Dawson? Maybe not, but you might see Sarah are more serious. (I, personally, would be judgy about Tiffiny's parents' choices.) Also a lot of first name choices have racial coding in the US; Dr. Sarah Dawson reads white and Dr. Shaniqua Dawson reads black, and no we are not post-racial yet.

Also, if your last name is Pepper, maybe consider law school instead of med school.

If the doctor's name were Apple Martin, I would totally pick that person. (I mean, if it were 15 years from now, and it could be that Apple Martin.)

I got a rec from my dermatologist (who was a rec from a friend). That person wasn't taking new patients so the receptionist wanted to send me to their website to choose someone else. Which, what am I supposed to glean from that? It took a while to get through to her that I was not doing that and to please just make me a damn appointment with whoever IS taking new patients.

As it turns out, that person is great and I really like him.