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Nominative Determinism

An aquaintance of mine is an officer in the TA. She is, I kid you not, Captain Gallantry!
 
Not quite the same thing, but yesterday I saw a local pest control company which calls itself Cornish Pesties..... :roll:
 
As fate would have it, I work as a cheesecutter, I place cheese wheels onto an inclined trough that rolls the wheels around to the next room where they stop next to the cutting table.
I then cut them into wedges and wrap them.
So my daily duties are to roll around and cut the cheese. (I like to call it "giving them a wedgie") ;)
And yes I know the richard/dick thing so don't bother. (heard that one all my life) :roll:
 
My husband is an electrician and he used to work with a guy named Kim Sparks.
 
What's in a name? 10 cases where moniker maketh man

The New Scientist gave it the name nominative determinism - the idea that there is a link between people's names and their occupation.

In their book Yes!, Goldstein, Martin and Cialdini cite the classic piece of research that supports the idea that nominative determism really exists. A study of the rolls of the American Dental Association shows that more people called Dennis become dentists than you would expect if the choice of profession were purely random.

And now we have the exquisitely named Bernard Madoff, making off with his client's cash.

Here are my top 10 examples of nominative determinism.

1. Theodore Hee. Mr T. Hee was responsible for most of the early comic storylines for Walt Disney films.

2. Cardinal Sin. The classic example, I think. Jamie Sin was an Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Church of the Philippines. Wikipedia helpfully notes: "His name should not be confused with "cardinal sin", which is synonymous for the seven deadly sins".

3. Judge Judge. In July of this year Sir Igor Judge was appointed Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales.

4. Amy Freeze. Fox News Chicago's Chief Meteorologist could hardly have chosen a different profession. Save, perhaps, setting pay for Government employees.

5. Patty Turner. The inevitable name of the wife of McDonald's CEO Frank Turner.

6. Governor Blagojevich. The man responsible for introducing Americans to the British slang term "blag" which as the dictionary puts it means "To rob, steal [origin unknown]

7. Dr Fred Grabiner. This is what the internet is for. A forum on appropriate names yields this brilliant moniker for a gynaecologist.

8. J. W. Splatt and D. Weedon. The New Scientist campaign was spurred on by the discovery of these two authors of an article on incontinence in the British Journal of Urology (vol 49, pp 173-176, 1977).

9. Usain Bolt. Surely his surname influenced the career of the world's fastest man? The same cannot be said of Marina Stepanova. This is the ideal name for an elite hurdler. But she earned her first titles under her maiden name of Marina Makeyeva, so her name can't have influenced her choice of career. Perhaps, though, it influenced her choice of husband.

10. Paige Worthy. Nominative determism has also fascinated the Freaknonomics blog ever since they discovered this fact checker for Good magazine.

Posted by Daniel Finkelstein on December 16, 2008

http://timesonline.typepad.com/comment/ ... ienti.html
 
I had a friend at university who was studying medicine, specialising in gynaecology, who went by the wonderfully carry on name of Dr Rob Lusty.
 
I read somewhere not long ago about a married couple who were in the service together (sorry, can't remember if it was military or police! :oops: )

Anyway, the wife (after a promotion) became Sergeant Sergeant. I think the husband (also following a no-doubt-well-deserved promotion) became Major Major. :shock: (Apparently the wife kept her maiden name!) Then again, if she used her husband's surname, she would be Sergeant-Major!! :p

I myself have an oral surgeon named Dr. Dent. :lol:
 
Major Major was a character in Catch-22.
 
Wasn't his full name & title Major Major Major Major?
 
escargot1 said:
Wasn't his full name & title Major Major Major Major?

That's right, to spite his wife Major Major's father had given him the first and middle name of Major, then he joined the army reaching the rank of Major, much to his dismay.
 
gerardwilkie said:
My vet is called Dr. Lamb.

My father's wife's daughter-in-law is a vet. Her last name is Kofod, which means "Cow's Foot".
 
The chippy near where I live is run by a Chinese gentleman named Mr. Lim. He only has one arm, much to the amusement of the student population.
 
Real peoples names

The following list is of real people i actually have known throughout the years.

Hugh Mann (Human)(joiner)
Richard Driver (Dick)(school chum)
Arthur Pinter (Half a pint a) (friend)
Anthony Renaldo Biggs (Ronald Biggs???) (my brother's full name)
Richard Little (Dick)(school friend)
Antony Bugsley (pronounced Boogsley)(Ants Bugs lee)(friend)
Theresa Bluitt (Trees a blew it)(ex-girlfriend)
Nyree Dawn Porter (ex-wife not the actress from the Forsythe Saga)
Doris Opin (Door is Open)(friend)
Jollee Funy (yes that was her real name)(friend)
Neeley Andrea Bouy (Nearly a boy, she is a girl)(friend)
Richard head (sorry Ricky but its so funny m8)(friend)
Catherine Ciquer (Kat Kicker)(friend)
Paul Voltier (Pole Volter)(friend)
Jesus Andrew Ricen (Jesus a risen)(sorry Jes)
Isabelle Carmicle (It's a girl (belle) car, Micheal)
Theresa Green (trees are green)(an old one but true)(school friend)
Valentine Love (ex-headmaster's son)

I do seem to attract people with funny names lol

and yes i know in my last post that Doc Cox and Ivor Biggun are both the same person and stage names.

If anyone recognises their name on this list and wish it removed, i will do...
 
Great find!

Do you think the editor chose the reporter to do the report on the basis of his name? It certainly beats a sleazy double-entendre headline! Mind you, if that name had been used in fiction, people would have said it was over the top and a bit obvious.
 
A friend of mine met a urologist called Dr P. Cockwell.
 
This is from the Obits column:

Squadron Leader Tommy Broom, who has died aged 96, was the navigator of a two-man Mosquito bomber crew known throughout the wartime RAF as "The Flying Brooms".
Published: 5:49PM BST 08 Jun 2010

In August 1943 Broom was the chief ground instructor at the Mosquito Training Unit when he first met his namesake Flight Lieutenant Ivor Broom (later Air Marshal Sir Ivor Broom), an experienced low-level bomber pilot. They immediately teamed up and flew together for the remainder of the war, forming a formidable partnership and completing 58 operations together, including 22 to Berlin.

Initially they joined No 571 Squadron as part of Air Vice-Marshal Don Bennett's Pathfinder Force, and on May 26 1944 they flew their first operation, an attack on Ludswigshafen. Their ground crew embellished their Mosquito with two crossed broomsticks, adding the legend "The Flying Brooms". :D

etc...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituar ... Broom.html
 
One of my former booses at work had a doctor called Peter Nutt. Unfortunately his wife was called Hazel.
 
My former brother in law Mr Graves - undertaker with the Co-op
A Police officer in Aberdeen - Constable Constable
A friend of mine - Ivor Gunn (Try saying that to your local bank cashier)
 
Priceless! All priceless! :lol:
 
Wasn't going to mention this when it was current, but since i've moved on from that job now, and perhaps he has also from his, i will.

About 18 months back i had a meeting with a guy from the local chaplaincy project that works with ex-offenders, who was called Mr Crimes.
 
Reminds me of one of our locally well-known criminal solicitors, Mr Badman. :lol:

I used to work at the courts and no, he didn't find it funny. :rofl:
 
people with names connected to their jobs

8) There is a grocery store chain here in texas that was founded by Herman E.Butts,which has its headquarters in San Antonio.But the chain which is even into Mexico is called H.E.B. for short,and they have a website.
Ima Hogg, was the daughter of a govenor of Texas and was a wealthy
philanthorpist giving much time and money to the arts and charity.
And no her sister wasn't named Ura Hogg.That's an old texas joke.
My mother was hungarian,and her maiden name was Popp.
A cousin on my dad's side was Reinhold Lilienschild,which means lily shield in German,and i guess they took their last name from the family coat of arms.
O.G.Wiederstein Elementary School in the Schertz-Cibolo-Universal City School District is named for a former school administrator.The name in German means stone penis.
At Boys Technical Highschool in Milwaukee,my dad back in the 1930s had a teacher named Mr.Grosskopf.Not sure of the german spelling of the word head, but his name means Mr.Bighead.
When we lived in Alaska there was a guy named Clay Fruit.
There is a writer of garden books named Crescent Dragonwagon.
The magazine ,Weird New Jersey has in it photos of tombstones with unusal names on it.Like, Snowhite, Tango, Dragula,Hiscock,etc.
There is a husband and wife buried down at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery with the last name of Ovenshine.
 
Re: people with names connected to their jobs

HollyDolly1 said:
O.G.Wiederstein Elementary School in the Schertz-Cibolo-Universal City School District is named for a former school administrator.The name in German means stone penis.
Who told you that? "Wieder" means "again", so it's "Againstone", if anything.

Some good names there, though! I think we've got a thread somewhere which is specifically for amusing names, as opposed to people with names strangely apt for their jobs, which this topic is for - unless you're saying that in Texas, school administrators have to have stone penises by law...
 
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