this post was submitted on 16 Jul 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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Big if true; better than all the dentists named Dennis (hexbear.net)
submitted 3 months ago by lars@lemmy.sdf.org to c/nominativedeterminism@feddit.uk
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cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/2997684

cunk

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[–] j4k3@lemmy.world 29 points 3 months ago

He married into it and took his wife's last name; a proletariat Marx-in-law

[–] Zip2@feddit.uk 26 points 3 months ago (1 children)

His sister Onya invented the starting pistol.

[–] Noodle07@lemmy.world 2 points 3 months ago

Subtle

[–] Successful_Try543@feddit.org 17 points 3 months ago (2 children)

Karl Marx himself was not a marxist.

[–] Zachariah@lemmy.world 14 points 3 months ago (2 children)

Was he Jewish like Jesus?

[–] Successful_Try543@feddit.org 12 points 3 months ago

There is a Marx quote like: "I know for sure I'm not a marxist." Which is supposedly in the context of the necessity of a violent revolution for the transition to communism.

[–] lars@lemmy.sdf.org 7 points 3 months ago (1 children)

You know who else doesn’t belong in nominative determinism? Jesus Christ, Whose name, of course, roughly translates to “oily Josh”.

[–] itsnicodegallo@lemm.ee 7 points 3 months ago (1 children)

That's because "Christ" is a title. Not his name. Hence, "Jesus of Nazareth".

[–] lars@lemmy.sdf.org 2 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Jesus Christ? I don’t know Him.

[–] lennivelkant@discuss.tchncs.de 3 points 3 months ago

Judas would approve

[–] Stalinwolf@lemmy.ca 11 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

This reminds me of every time I see a post (it's always on Facebook for some reason) about the Cheddar Man and his living descendent, who was clearly used to help determine what the face of the Cheddar Man model/figure should look like. But without fail, there are thousands of comments going, "Oh, wow! He looks exactly like the Cheddar Man! I can see it! These men could be twins!"

We're one step away from asking if the bones were really made from cheddar.

[–] half_built_pyramids@lemmy.world 5 points 3 months ago

What is your dentist's name?

Crentist.