127
submitted 10 months ago by favrion@lemmy.world to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world

For example, I was doing research for a blog article and found a paper by a guy named Christian Messenger. That man was definitely destined for missionary work, but the paper was about football.

top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[-] Floufym@lemmy.world 92 points 10 months ago

I knew a guy who is called Gerard Menfroy. This is pronounced exactly the same as « J’ai rarement froid » in French, which means « I rarely feel cold ». He was Heating engineer.

[-] jjagaimo@lemmy.ca 64 points 10 months ago

There's a name for that; nominative determinism

[-] Spot@startrek.website 16 points 10 months ago

I had to look up so.e examples using that, some of these are great!https://icon.ink/articles/nominative-determinism-examples-jobs/

[-] Nemo@midwest.social 13 points 10 months ago

Like Yo-Yo Ma, who goes back and forth on strings.

[-] Gingerlegs@lemmy.world 62 points 10 months ago
[-] feedum_sneedson@lemmy.world 5 points 10 months ago

It can't be real.

[-] phanto@lemmy.ca 60 points 10 months ago

I used to work in a call center and had a notably irate customer named Mrs. Bitschy. I tried pronouncing it like "Beeshy", and she immediately snapped "It's Bitchy! Got a problem with that!?" Oof.

[-] ickplant@lemmy.world 51 points 10 months ago

My husband’s vasectomy was performed by Dr. Wiener.

[-] TequilaMockingbird@kbin.social 16 points 10 months ago

Was his first name Xavier? Dr. X Wiener?

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)
[-] nvermind@lemm.ee 41 points 10 months ago

The pilot on my plane a few years back was named Max Power

[-] invertedspear@lemm.ee 39 points 10 months ago

I think he retired during Covid, but a nearby lasik clinic was run by Dr. Biglaiser. I don’t see how that could have been his real name.

[-] Ep1cFac3pa1m@lemmy.world 28 points 10 months ago
[-] JackGreenEarth@lemm.ee 4 points 10 months ago

You can emberd images by using

![](image link)

load more comments (6 replies)
[-] ValiantDust@feddit.de 25 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

There was a trial against members of the NSU, a German extremist-right terrorist organisation, a few years ago and the lawyers representing them were named Sturm (storm), Heer (army) and Stahl (steel). In combination they sound like something a Nazi came up with to make them sound powerful and strong.

[-] Xariphon@kbin.social 23 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

I remember reading about a military guy, Staff Sergeant Max Fightmaster. I have no idea what he actually does (or did; guy's probably retired by now) but if he hasn't at least spent some time teaching martial arts he's doing it wrong.

Edit: apparently he's a computer technician and that's even better somehow.

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] RIP_Cheems@lemmy.world 21 points 10 months ago

Gay Hitler. Worst part is he was born before those were offensive names or terms but lived long enough for them to get there meaning. Wasn't even meant to have the last name Hitler, It was a misspelling of Hiddler or something like that.

[-] postmateDumbass@lemmy.world 6 points 10 months ago

Accidental Hitler. Ouch.

[-] BossDj@lemm.ee 20 points 10 months ago

This is gonna sound fake, but I knew a butcher named Butch Pig. He was Butch before he was a butcher

[-] Rhynoplaz@lemmy.world 6 points 10 months ago

And soon he will become butchest.

[-] Dagwood222@lemm.ee 20 points 10 months ago

11 hours in and no Usain Bolt???

[-] Atin@lemmy.world 17 points 10 months ago

There was a racing driver named Scott Speed. Unfortunately he's got no speed.

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] d3kay@lemmy.world 16 points 10 months ago

Wolfgang Wolf was at some point manager of German club Wolfsburg!

[-] pelerinli@lemmy.world 16 points 10 months ago

I work in dairy company, once I was checking SAP for something and saw a name-surname "Olgun Erkek" (Mature Male in Turkish). We are receiving his raw milk, it is like porn name when you picture it like that.

[-] HonoraryMancunian@lemmy.world 15 points 10 months ago

Had a religious studies teach called Mrs Holyland

[-] RBWells@lemmy.world 15 points 10 months ago

There is a doctor near us named Dr. Owi.

[-] flathead@lemm.ee 13 points 10 months ago

Kid at school named Miles Long.

[-] Teon@kbin.social 6 points 10 months ago

I just saw him on pornhub.

[-] pastermil@sh.itjust.works 4 points 10 months ago

Have you seen his...

You know...

?

[-] YIj54yALOJxEsY20eU@lemm.ee 13 points 10 months ago

The original head of Teslas autopilot division is named Andrej Karpathy. car-path-y

[-] Sir_Fridge@lemmy.world 13 points 10 months ago

I had a taxi driver once who's last name was snel. Which is Dutch for fast or quick or speed.

[-] LopensLeftArm@sh.itjust.works 13 points 10 months ago

I used to work in a call center and once took a call from a guy named Jacob J. Justice. Guy should've been a Marvel superhero.

[-] Fondots@lemmy.world 8 points 10 months ago

I work in a 911 dispatch center, we used to have a frequent caller in our area whose first name contained the word "trash," and, well, they were trashy. We had cops there pretty much every day for some dumb trashy domestic bullshit.

Also took a call from a guy who's name was very similar to "Roger Rogar." Not his actual name, given the nature of my job I don't want to give out any potentially identifiable information about my callers, but same basic pattern, first name exactly the same as his last name except for one letter and, at least as well as I could hear over the phone, pronounced exactly the same.

Also a truly dumbfounding amount of girls named things like princess and diamond.

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (2 replies)
[-] breakingcups@lemmy.world 12 points 10 months ago

Lots of nominative determinism in this thread.

[-] feedum_sneedson@lemmy.world 11 points 10 months ago

Dr Healey. Nice.

[-] SwingingTheLamp@midwest.social 11 points 10 months ago

There's the newspaper columnist with the world's record highest IQ, Marilyn vos Savant. In French, you can read her name as "your (plural) scholar/scientist." When I was a kid, I was sure that it was a pen name, but it turns out it's actually her mother's maiden name.

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] dgmib@lemmy.world 10 points 10 months ago

Not sure if this is what you were going for, but I had a high school teacher named Mr. Student.

[-] RampantParanoia2365@lemmy.world 9 points 10 months ago

There's an HGTV person named Page Turner.

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] myfavouritename@lemmy.world 7 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

These are called "aptroynms" and Wikipedia has a great list of them and also inaptroyms. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aptronym

load more comments (2 replies)
[-] CheeryLBottom@lemmy.world 6 points 10 months ago

My daughter had to visit an allergist and his name was Dr. J. Doctor

load more comments (2 replies)
[-] jqubed@lemmy.world 6 points 10 months ago

There are several dentists in my area that have the last name of Beaver. They’re all related and it seems like the original one felt like that was too good of an opportunity to pass up on, and subsequent generations joined the family business.

[-] Spaghetti_Hitchens@kbin.social 5 points 10 months ago

There's a dental dam joke in there somewhere

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)
[-] state_electrician@discuss.tchncs.de 5 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

In Germany there was a couple therapist named Von Hinten, which translates to From Behind as in doggy style. Last I heard she perished in the Christmas tsunami.

[-] Kolanaki@yiffit.net 5 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

There's a meme image of a screenshot of a news broadcast featuring a fireman named Les McBurney.

This sort of thing apparently happens enough that it has a name: an aptronym.

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] Misconduct@lemmy.world 5 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

A dude named Sobriety Promise (both words were his first name). That guy's parents were assholes to name their kid that. Bro had to announce that his parents used to be drunk losers every time he said his name lmao. He went by his middle name and changed it as soon as he could. Poor guy. It's no wonder he became an alcoholic later 😐

[-] Towerofpain11@lemmy.world 4 points 10 months ago

There is a AFL player called Patrick Dangerfield. Great player too.

load more comments
view more: next ›
this post was submitted on 11 Feb 2024
127 points (97.0% liked)

Ask Lemmy

27145 readers
2025 users here now

A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions

Please don't post about current US Politics. If you need to do this, try !politicaldiscussion@lemmy.world


Rules: (interactive)


1) Be nice and; have funDoxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, and toxicity are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them


2) All posts must end with a '?'This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?


3) No spamPlease do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.


4) NSFW is okay, within reasonJust remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either !asklemmyafterdark@lemmy.world or !asklemmynsfw@lemmynsfw.com. NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].


5) This is not a support community.
It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions. If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email info@lemmy.world. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.


Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.

Partnered Communities:

Tech Support

No Stupid Questions

You Should Know

Reddit

Jokes

Ask Ouija


Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu


founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS