Nominative Determinism

New Scientist used to have a regular column on this. It refers to someone’s name being peculiarly appropriate given their career, and the NS hypothesis was that there is some cause-and-effect thing going on. Either way, it’s pretty amusing.

I was reminded of this by:

  1. A British ceramics artist by the name of Sandy Brown:
  1. A clickbait article about Peter O’Toole, who apparently couldn’t keep his tool in his pants. Or his peter, for that matter.

Any other funny examples? Post them here.

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There are also aptronyms, where a name has a humorous connection to a job, such as Usain Bolt, and tennis player (and now famed bigot) Margaret Court.

There’s also examples where a literary character creates a global association with a job, such as Jeeves.

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I guess my examples are actually aptronyms. Shagging groupies probably isn’t a career as such.

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There’s celebrity cook Mary Berry. And considering her plans for the economy Liz Truss, might just be an example!

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I think Aaron Farr is my favourite there.

Brad Slaughter and Bernard Lynch should set up a hitman operation together.

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“Lynch & Slaughter, attorneys at law”

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Here’s one straight out of my high school yearbook, good old Coach Sweatt :hot_face:

In the early 80s I participated in a nation wide scavenger hunt sponsored by Games magazine (Ah, the things we used to do before the internet). One of the items we had to obtain was a business card from a veterinarian whose family name was an animal. Poor Dr. Fox from somewhere on the east coast was inundated with requests for his card. He started charging two bucks for those requested by mail.

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On the high street in Birchington-on-Sea:

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So I’m in Blighty trying to get a woodburning stove installed.

The flue/fire guy is called Mr Sparks.

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In an otherwise gloomy piece about Defra buggering things up, as is their wont, a brief mention of a re-wilding/reforestation expert called Isabella Tree. And yes, it’s her real name.

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Was just reading about a guy who (according to his academic bio) “is specializing on biomechanics of the propulsive systems for swimming by aquatic animals”.

His name is Frank Fish.

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Frank-Fish-3

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