this post was submitted on 19 Jul 2025
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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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Dr. I. Ball (lemmy.today)
submitted 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) by Wolf@lemmy.today to c/nominativedeterminism@feddit.uk
 

You guys will never be able to guess what Dr. I. Ball does for a living.

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[โ€“] Brunbrun6766@lemmy.world 10 points 9 months ago (1 children)

The basketball coach at my school was named Brandon Ball....

[โ€“] Wolf@lemmy.today 9 points 9 months ago

The B-Ball coach was B. Ball, that's amazing ๐Ÿ˜‚

[โ€“] merari42@lemmy.world 6 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Does he treat your eyeballs or is he just ballin?

[โ€“] Wolf@lemmy.today 4 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

He's an Optometrist, so possibly both.

[โ€“] smeg@feddit.uk 4 points 9 months ago (2 children)

I'll forgive the uncropped screenshot because this is amazing

[โ€“] gofsckyourself@lemmy.world 6 points 9 months ago (1 children)
[โ€“] smeg@feddit.uk 1 points 9 months ago
[โ€“] glimse@lemmy.world 4 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I'd prefer it be cropped and then the rectangular image placed inside of a square with a related background (like some eyeballs) and if possible, at least one non-OC @memepage added to it.

A little jpeg compression would go a long way, too

[โ€“] smeg@feddit.uk 3 points 9 months ago

We could have it be a video for some reason too!

[โ€“] ryedaft@sh.itjust.works 2 points 9 months ago

He could also have been an oncologist, one balling the testicular cancer dudes. Lots of options.