Someone is thinking of you
Hiccups mean someone is talking about or missing you, a belief found in Russia, India and elsewhere.
Body superstition
Hiccups superstitions
Hiccups superstitions: someone is thinking or talking about you; naming the right person stops them. First recorded: Antiquity; the being-talked-about version widespread by the 1600s. That makes it more than 1,500 years old — joint 2nd oldest of the 45 superstitions we have dated.
- Earliest record
- Antiquity see the history below
When it actually starts
How old is this one
First recorded
Antiquity; the being-talked-about version widespread by the 1600s
That makes it
more than 1,500 years old
Rank by age
Joint 2nd oldest of 45 dated here
Category
Body
Same family as sneezing and itching — an involuntary body event with no obvious cause, so it acquired a social one.
Why it stuck. Hiccups stop on their own within minutes, so whatever you did last appears to have worked. This is the clearest self-confirming loop in the set.
1 of the dated superstitions here were written down earlier and 32 later, while 11 share its date.
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The versions people follow
What exactly is believed
Guess the name
Naming the person who is thinking of you is supposed to make the hiccups stop.
A lie was told
In some traditions hiccups mean you have told a lie or are about to be caught out.
Growing babies
Hiccups in a baby are said to mean it is growing.
How the bad luck is traditionally undone
Folk cures include a sudden fright, drinking water upside down, holding your breath, eating a spoonful of sugar or saying your own name backwards.
Where it lives today
Hiccups are spasms of the diaphragm; most folk cures work, if they do, by interrupting breathing. Hiccups lasting more than two days need medical attention.
What people say
Someone is thinking or talking about you; naming the right person stops them.What is going on
A diaphragm spasm, usually from eating fast or swallowing air. Hiccups lasting more than 48 hours are a medical sign.Where it applies. The talked-about interpretation appears independently across Europe, India and East Asia.
Nearest in age
Hiccups superstitions are joint 2nd oldest of the 45 dated superstitions here. Of those, 3 date from 1900 or later and 14 predate the common era.
First-recorded dates are the earliest documented appearance in written sources, not the earliest possible origin — an unrecorded practice can be older. How the dating works and where it is uncertain →
Cite this page
AstroHot. “Hiccups Superstitions: Origin, Meaning and When It Began.” Accessed October 27, 2026. https://astrohot.com/superstitions/hiccups/
For Wikipedia
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