Nominative Determinism

568 readers
1 users here now

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!

founded 9 months ago
MODERATORS
26
 
 
27
28
29
30
 
 

The lawyer in question is named Rosanne Plante.

cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/11857127

Archived copies of the article: archive.today ghostarchive.org

31
32
33
 
 

Not normally on Faceb**k but happened to see this.

BBC News just interviewed a guy in a bed called Amin Abed. Could this week get any better 🤣

Source: https://www.facebook.com/100050247169746/posts/pfbid02bfxBZMQnE7PDk6Y7Pq8dtdPLFa7ijA8HLES4dc9FoK2RTg7UzKodRLQsP8GNAxtPl/

34
 
 

“There are still so many things we don’t know about [a milky sea] beyond that it must be caused by bacteria,” says Steven Haddock, a marine biologist at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute in Moss Landing, Calif., who collaborates with Hudson on milky seas research. “What are the substrates that fuel the growth of these massive numbers of bacteria, and what are the environmental factors that keep them from getting diluted into the water column?”

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/bioluminescent-milky-seas-predicted

35
 
 

About Me

My name is Dr Neil Buttery and I have been writing on the history of British food for over ten years and through the process of writing and cooking I have become a professional chef specialising in cooking food from our past. https://britishfoodhistory.com/about/

36
 
 

cross-posted from: https://zerobytes.monster/post/1990634

The original post: /r/nottheonion by /u/Holden-Tewdiggs on 2024-07-17 16:13:33.
37
53
submitted 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) by hsr@lemmy.dbzer0.com to c/nominativedeterminism@feddit.uk
 
 

He also hosts the "Practical Engineering" channel on Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/@practicalengineeringchannel

38
 
 

cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/2997684

cunk

39
 
 

cross-posted from: https://discuss.tchncs.de/post/18602528

Source article

It's not just people, cities can have prophetic names too

40
129
Fellony, a felon (lemmy.world)
submitted 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) by salvaria@lemmy.blahaj.zone to c/nominativedeterminism@feddit.uk
 
 

From this post

41
42
 
 

In July 2010, Reckless apologised for missing a vote on the budget because he was drunk. He said that he "did not feel it was appropriate to take part in the vote because of the amount he had drunk".

43
 
 
44
45
53
submitted 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) by smeg@feddit.uk to c/nominativedeterminism@feddit.uk
 
 

Dr. Seawright will help you see right

46
 
 

cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/12097070

47
 
 

https://gastronorth.com.au/team/dr-joshua-butt/

I'm sure he's sick of being the butt of this joke

48
49
 
 
50
view more: ‹ prev next ›