Nominative determinism

Nominative determinism is the hypothesis that people tend to gravitate towards areas of work that match their name. It predicts, for example, that because of their names, the scientists Splatt and Weedon ended up as urologists.

The term nominative determinism was first used in the popular science magazine New Scientist in 1994, after a series of observations of recent books by researchers with remarkably fitting surnames, including a book on polar explorations by Daniel Snowman and on subterranean London by Richard Trench, raised suspicion of the existence of a psychological effect. Previously, a few scientists had expressed their suspicion, most notably psychologist Carl Jung. Since its inception, nominative determinism has been an irregularly recurring topic in New Scientist’s Feedback column, as readers continued to submit examples.

In the 21st century a few large scale empirical studies have found some evidence validating nominative determinism. Researchers concluded that US men disproportionately worked in eleven traditionally male occupations whose titles matched their surnames, for example, baker, carpenter, and farmer. The theory of implicit egotism explains why nominative determinism would happen, stating that humans have an unconscious preference for things resembling the self. The name letter effect, the fact that people prefer letters of their own name, is at the foundation of this theory.

Nominative determinism differs from the related concept aptronym, and its synonyms aptonym, namephreak, and Perfect Fit Last Name, in that it focusses on causality. An aptronym merely means the name is fitting, without saying anything as to why it has come to fit.

Background

The aptness of names has changed over time. In pre-urban times a single name naming system sufficed, for example, the Anglo-Saxon Beornheard. Single names were chosen as nicknames or because of their etymological meaning. In England it was not until after the Norman conquest that surnames were added when one name no longer uniquely identified a person, because there were too many Williams or Robins in an area. Surnames were created to fit the person, mostly from patronyms (e.g., son of William becomes John Williamson), occupational descriptions (e.g., John Carpenter), character or traits (e.g., John Long), or location (e.g., John from Acton becomes John Acton). Surnames were not hereditary initially; only by the mid 14th century did they gradually become hereditary. Surnames chosen from trade or craft were the first to do so, as the craft often persisted within the family for generations. But the aptness of surnames has decreased over time, because tradesmen do not always follow their fathers. Early cases of notable lack of aptness date from the 14th century, e.g., "Roger Carpenter the pepperer." With the conquest of the New World the English surnames and naming system subsequently spread across large portions of the globe.

Five hundred years later aptness is remarkable. In 1914 scientist Ernest Weekley notes the aptness of two names in a rugby team: Muddiwater and Bull. Today, two of the three most frequently occurring English surnames are occupational, viz. Smith and Taylor, although few smiths and tailors remain. Since it is now remarkable, various people have coined terms to describe the concept of a name fitting the person very well. Linguist Frank Nuessel coined aptonym. The term aptronym is thought to have been coined by the American newspaper columnist Franklin P. Adams, as an anagram of patronym that suggests aptness. Other synonyms include euonym, Perfect Fit Last Name (PFLN), and namephreak. In literary science a name that particularly suits the character is called a charactonym. Notable authors who frequently applied this as a stylistic technique are Charles Dickens, (e.g., Scrooge, the tightfisted miser), and William Shakespeare, (e.g., the lost baby Perdita in "The Winter's Tale"). The concept of aptronym, and its synonyms, does not say anything about causality, about why the name has come to fit.

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Fictive law firm Dewey, Cheetham & Howe in Harvard Square, Cambridge, Massachusetts

The humorous aspect of aptronyms has led quite a few people or newspapers to collect them. San Francisco Chronicle columnist Herb Caen reported irregularly on reader submitted gems, including substitute teacher Mr. Fillin, piano teacher Patience Scales, and the Vatican's spokesman on the evils of rock 'n roll, Cardinal Rapsong. Similarly, Bob Levey on occasion listed humorous examples sent in by readers of his column in the Washington Post: food industry consultant named Faith Popcorn, a Lieutenant Sergeant, and a tax accountant called Shelby Goldgrab. Dutch newspaper Trouw had an irregularly featured column called "Nomen est omen" with Dutch examples, often including photos of shop signs. Onomastic scholar R.M. Remnick has called for more verification of aptronyms appearing in these newspaper columns. The US radioshow "Car Talk" has taken this one step further and weekly mentions fictive staff members (e.g, Official Spokesperson Howie Vasive and Head of Security Barb Dwyer), and their fictive legal representation by law firm Dewey, Cheatham, and Howe. Lists of apronyms in science, medicine, and law are more reliable because they tend to be drawn from easily verifiable sources.

Definition

Nominative determinism, literally "name-driven outcome", is defined as the hypothesis that people tend to gravitate towards occupations that reflect their names. The name fits because people, possibly subconsciously, made themselves fit it. It differs from the concept of aptronyms in that it focusses on causality.

The term nominative determinism had its origin in the "Feedback" column of the British popular science magazine New Scientist in 1994, in the November 5 issue:

"We recently came across a new book, Pole Positions—The Polar Regions and the Future of the Planet, by Daniel Snowman. Then, a couple of weeks later, we received a copy of London Under London—A Subterranean Guide, one of the authors of which is Richard Trench. So it was interesting to see Jen Hunt of the University of Manchester stating in the October issue of "The Psychologist": "Authors gravitate to the area of research which fits their surname." Hunt's example is an article on incontinence in the British Journal of Urology by A. J. Splatt and D. Weedon.

We feel it's time to open up this whole issue to rigorous scrutiny. You are invited to send in examples of the phenomenon in the fields of science and technology (with references that check out, please) together with any hypotheses you may have on how it comes about."

Feedback editors John Hoyland and Mike Holderness selected the term nominative determinism from the many reader submissions, with the winning one coming from C.R. Cavonius. The term was first printed in the December 17 issue.

Other terms were sporadically used prior to 1994. Onomastic determinism was used as early as 1971. German psychologist Wilhelm Stekel spoke of "Die Verpflichtung des Namens" (the obligation of the name) in 1911. Outside of science, cognomen syndrome was used by playwright Tom Stoppard in his 1972 play Jumpers. In Ancient Rome the predictive power of a person's name was captured by the Latin proverb "nomen est omen", meaning the name is a sign. This saying is still in use today in English and other languages such as Dutch, German, Italian, and Slovenian. In 17th century England it was believed that choosing a name for a child should be done with significance. Children should live according to the message contained in, or the meaning of their names. In 1652 William Jenkyn, an English clergyman, argued that first names should be "as a thread tyed about the finger to make us mindful of the errand we came into the world to do for our Master." English historian William Camden wrote before him, in 1623, when a new type of first name had emerged, viz. Puritan names such as Faith, Fortitude and Grace, that names should be chosen with "good and gracious significations", as they might inspire the bearer to good duties.

Research

Theoretical framework

The first scientists to publish about the concept of nominative determinism were early 20th century German psychologists. Wilhelm Stekel spoke of the "obligation of the name" In the context of compulsive behaviour and choice of occupation; Karl Abraham wrote that the determining power of names might be partially caused by inheriting a trait from an ancestor who was given a fitting name, for example referring to pride, where the fitting name imposes a duty on the descendents. In 1952 Carl Jung referred to Stekel's work in his theory of synchronicity (a meaningful but acausal falling together of events):

"We find ourselves in something of a quandary when it comes to making up our minds about the phenomenon which Stekel calls the 'compulsion of the name'. What he means by this is the sometimes quite gross coincidence between a man's name and his peculiarities or profession. For instance ... Herr Feist (Mr Stout) is the food minister, Herr Rosstäuscher (Mr Horsetrader) is a lawyer, Herr Kalberer (Mr Calver) is an obstetrician ... Are these the whimsicalities of chance, or the suggestive effects of the name, as Stekel seems to suggest, or are they 'meaningful coincidences'?"

Jung listed striking instances among psychologists—including himself: "Herr Freud (Joy) champions the pleasure principle, Herr Adler (Eagle) the will to power, Herr Jung (Young) the idea of rebirth..."

In 1975 psychologist Lawrence Casler called for empirical research into the relative frequencies of fitting names to establish if there is an effect of the name or whether we are being seduced by Lady Luck. In anticipation he provides three possible causes for nominative determinism: 1) self-image and self-expectation being internally influenced by one's name; 2) the name acts as a social stimulus, creating external expectations of others that are then communicated to the individual; 3) genetic predispensation – attributes suited towards a particular career that have been passed down the generations along with the appropriate occupational surname.

In 2002 researchers Pelham, Mirenberg, and Jones explored Casler's first explanation and argued that people have a basic desire to feel good about themselves and behave, knowingly or unknowingly, according to that desire. People's positive automatic associations about themselves may influence their feelings about almost anything that people associate with the self. Given that people like objects more when they have been given to them, the mere ownership effect, they theorise that people should develop deep affections for objects and concepts that are chronically associated with the self, such as their name. The unconscious power they call implicit egotism. Simonsohn's subsequent contribution to the theory of implicit egotism consists of proposing its area of influence is restricted to small marginal stakes, where people are nearly indifferent between options. "The number of Georges who are nearly indifferent or are ambivalent between living in Georgia and another state may be too small for the impact of implicit egotism in their choice to be detectable." But choosing a charity is a small stakes decision and therefore will show an effect. Raymond Smeets later added the prediction that if the implicit egotism theory is indeed based on evaluation of the self, then people with low self-esteem should not gravitate towards choices associated with the self, but possibly away from them. A lab experiment confirmed this.

Empirical evidence

First-hand accounts of people with fitting names do exist. Igor Judge, former Lord Chief Justice in England, said he has no recollection of anyone commenting on his destined profession when he was a child, adding "I'm absolutely convinced in my case it is entirely coincidental and I can't think of any evidence in my life that suggests otherwise." James Counsell on the other hand, having chosen a career in law just like his father, his sibling, and two distant relatives, reported he cannot remember wanting to do anything else ever. "I remember as a child people saying to me 'of course you are going to be a barrister because of your name'. How much is down to the subconscious is difficult to say, but the fact that your name is similar may be a reason for showing more interest in a profession than you might otherwise. Any link in adult eyes may seem trivial but to someone in their formative years starting to think about their career it's possible it may have an effect." Psychology professor Lewis Lipsitt lectured about nominative determinism in class when a student pointed out that Lipsitt himself had been subjected to the suspected effect since he studied babies' sucking behaviour. "That had never occurred to me." But William James was the first psychologist to challenge the validity of introspection; specifically, the objectivity of introspective reports by owners of fitting names has been questioned as well.

By selecting the cases that fit the argument one ignores those that do not. Analysis of large numbers of names is therefore needed. In 2002 Pelham, Mirenberg, and Jones analysed various databases with first names, surnames, occupations, cities and states. In one study they retrieved the number of dentists called Dennis (482) from a database of US dentists. They looked up in the 1990 Census database which male first names were the next most popular name, Walter, and the previous, Jerry. The likelihood of a US male being called Dennis was 0.415% and Walter and Jerry combined 0.416%. They then retrieved the number of dentists called Walter (257) and Jerry (270). Comparing the relative frequencies of Dennis, Walter and Jerry dentists, they concluded that people named Dennis gravitate towards dentistry. However, in 2011, Uri Simonsohn published a paper in which he reported on how the popularity of Dennis, Walter and Jerry as baby names has varied differently over the decades. Therefore it was far more likely for Pelham et al. to find Dennis to have any job, not just a dentist, and Walter to be retired. Simonsohn did indeed find a disproportionally high number of Dennis lawyers compared to Walter lawyers.

Aware of Simonsohn's critical analyses of their earlier methods, Pelham and Mauricio published a new study in 2015, describing how they now controlled for gender, ethnicity, and education confounds. In one study they looked at census data and concluded that men disproportionately worked in 11 traditionally male occupations whose titles matched their surnames, for example, baker, carpenter, and farmer.

In 2009 Michalos reported the results of an analysis of the occurrences of people with surname Counsell or Councell registered as independent barristers in England and Wales versus those in the countries as whole. Where it was expected to find no one registered (0.3 of a person), three barristers were found.

In 2015 researchers Limb, Limb, Limb and Limb published a paper on their study into the effect of surnames in medical specialisation. They looked at 313,445 entries in the medical register from the General Medical Council. They identified surnames that were apt for the speciality, for example, Limb for an orthopaedic surgeon, and for medicine in general, for example Doctor. They found that the frequency of names relevant to medicine and to subspecialties was much greater than expected by chance. Specialties that had the largest proportion of names specifically relevant to that specialty were those in which the English language has provided a wide range of alternative terms for the same anatomical parts (or functions thereof). Specifically, these were genitourinary medicine (for example Hardwick, Kinghorn, Woodcock, Bell) and urology (for example Burns, Cox, Dick, Koch, Cox, Balluch, Ball, Waterfall). Neurologists had names relevant to medicine in general, but far fewer had names directly relevant to the specialty (1 in every 302). They did not report on looking for any confounding variables. In 2010 Abel had come to a similar conclusion. In one study he compared doctors and lawyers whose first or last names began with three-letter combinations representative of their professions, for example, "doc," "law," and likewise found a significant relationship between name and profession. Abel also found that the initial letters of physicians' last names were significantly related to their subspecialty. For example, Raymonds were more likely to be radiologists than dermatologists.

See also

• Onomatomancy
• Sound symbolism
• "Spell My Name with an S"
• True name

References

Bibliography

• commented on by Balestra and Hug (below):

External links

• Aptonyms-wiki was Canadian Aptonym Centre
• The Doctor's Names List
• The Imperial Animal by Lionel Tiger and Robin Fox.