mysql query problem (php)

[songwritingfever]

first things first, I'm really REALLY new to all this...

so, vriable 'name" are passed through URL to file.php

(http://www.domain.com/file.php?name=John Smith)

So what's wrong with this query?!...It says there's an error near "John Smith" (that is when name=john smith)


..........
<?php
$connect = mysql_connect ("anthing", "'anything", "anything") or
die ("Error: Couldn't connect to database server");
mysql_select_db ("anything");
$query = "SELECT title, categ, id
FROM articles
WHERE name LIKE "$name";
$result = mysql_query($query);

......
(the code is in file.php of course)
I know this question is most likely very simple, but I'd appreciate the help a lot...thanks