Ever heard of the notion of nominative determinism?
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.
You can read more about the idea here.
What on earth has led me to think about this notion now? Well. a few days ago, I watched a play called “The Philanthropist” in which a character who was a philologist was called Phil and another character who was an academic was called Don.
My sister – something of an expert on language – told me about the concept of nominative determinism which was new to me.
May 4th, 2017 at 9:53 am
I used to work with a Canal Engineer called Mr Waters.