this post was submitted on 18 May 2024
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Nominative Determinism

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Nominative determinism is the hypothesis that people tend to gravitate towards areas of work that fit their names. The term was first used in the magazine New Scientist in 1994, after the magazine's humorous "Feedback" column noted several studies carried out by researchers with remarkably fitting surnames. These included a book on polar explorations by Daniel Snowman and an article on urology by researchers named Splatt and Weedon. These and other examples led to light-hearted speculation that some sort of psychological effect was at work.

This is a community for posting real-world examples of names that by coincidence are funny in context. A link to the article or site is preferable, as well as a screenshot of the funny name if it's not in the headline. Try not to repost, and keep it fun!

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[–] [email protected] 19 points 5 months ago (2 children)

The best nomative determinism I've ever personally seen is a guy I knew named John Data who worked at IBM back in the day. Can you imagine calling someone out to work on your compoter system and the guy who shows up is literally called Mr. Data.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 5 months ago (1 children)

I've known a network engineer named wan-lan as his last name. An undertaker named cerial Mort. And a plastic surgeon named doctor tits

[–] [email protected] 9 points 5 months ago (2 children)

I believed you until Dr. Tits

[–] kogasa 2 points 5 months ago

"Tits Group" is a well known object in mathematics named after one Dr. Tits, but I admit plastic surgeon is another level

[–] [email protected] 9 points 5 months ago

the guy who shows up is literally called Mr. Data.