Nominative Determinism

[Tony Williams]

New Scientist has had a long-running intermittent thread on nominative determinism: when people end up in jobs which their names seem to have predetermined, e.g. if someone called Baker becomes a baker.

One of my favourites was a bank robber called Robin Banks (well, what else could he do?).

One I've spotted recently concerns the weird-looking ship below, which is actually the US Navy's latest warship, despite looking like something from science fiction. No prizes for guessing the name of the Captain - James Kirk! The joke continues, in that with any luck he will have made Admiral by the time the next USS Enterprise (a giant nuclear-powered aircraft carrier) enters service on its completion in around 2025.

Bet his First Officer gets tired of being called Spock...

[chaggle]

At school my woodwork teacher was Mr Tap and my PE teacher Mr Trott.

I once had a female colleague named Robyn who had bravely married a man named Crooke.

[Tony Williams]

One person I knew of was called Dawn Revell. Wonderful images of naked women dancing around a bonfire instantly spring to mind :yea

[chaggle]

I have a friend - surname Horroll - who fixes antique watches and clocks for a living.

He was many years into this profession before he realised that he was a horologist.