Nominative determinism
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Nominative determinism is a term created and popularised in the magazine New Scientist. It refers to amusing instances where people's names suggest key attributes of their jobs, professions, or lives, with the implication that their names have influenced their lives.
Technically "Mr. Bunn the baker" is nominative determinism, but real examples are more highly prized, the more obscure the better.
New Scientist occasionally resumes the publication of these items in its "Feedback" section, and usually has to call a halt soon afterwards as readers send in floods of examples.
Synonyms and/or related concepts include aptronym, apronym, aptonym, jobonymns, namephreaks, onomastic determinism, Perfect Fit Last Names (PFLNs), psychonymics, and classically nomen est omen or όνομα ορίζοντας. ND researchers are comiconomenclaturists.
A key related word is Aptronym, allegedly coined by United States newspaper columnist Franklin P. Adams, meaning a name aptly suited to its owner. The distinction is subtle but fundamental: as post-hoc vs propter-hoc, so Aptronym vs Nominative Determinism.
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[edit] Origin and meaning
The term Nominative Determinism is a coinage of the Feedback column in the British popular science journal New Scientist, stemming from this item in 1994:
- "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 (vol 49, pp 173-176, 1977) by J. W. Splatt and D. Weedon.[1] (This really does exist. We've checked it.)
- 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. No prizes, other than seeing your name in print and knowing you have contributed to the advance of human knowledge."[2]
However, an earlier and widely documented instance of the concept that someone's name could influence their choices or behaviour, and hence their life, was Carl Jung's seminal paper on synchronicity in 1952:
- "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'?"[3]
Jung further noted, with an early foreshadowing of the irony that New Scientist later brought to the topic, suggestions of nominative determinism among his fellow psychologists, including himself:
- "Herr Freud (Joy) champions the pleasure principle, Herr Adler (Eagle) the will to power, Herr Jung (Young) the idea of rebirth…"[4]
Although various academics have argued that names influence people's lives, New Scientist itself took a more equivocal position:
- "So let the last word go to Andrew Lover, who writes to us expressing the earnest hope that nominative determinism is a real phenomenon. We hope so too, young Lover."[5]
[edit] Spurious nominative determinism
The mere coincidence of a name's meaning ("Snowman") or pronunciation ("Splatt") with a behaviour or circumstance is not sufficient to constitute nominative determinism. The key requirement is causation: the name must have preceded, and hence impliedly influenced the likelihood of, that behaviour or circumstance.
This is illustrated by the example of Marina Stepanova, who was an elite hurdler, achieving a world record in 1986. However, she chose to enter the sport, and achieved her early athletic success, under her maiden name Marina Makeyeva and only later married into a far more apt name. Her later name can not have influenced her earlier life.
Marina Stepanova is an example of an aptronym which is not nominative determinism.
[edit] Examples
- Mark Avery, Head of Convervation Science for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.
- Cinderella Bermudez, owner of Maid to Clean, a Washington, D.C.-area cleaning service.
- Lord Brain, leading neurologist and peer of the realm.
- Dr. Richard (Dick) Chopp, urologist, whose practice's website emphasises his nickname and claims he "is well known in the Austin community for performing Vasectomies".
- Frances Crook, director of the Howard League for Penal Reform.
- S. Marc Breedlove, who wrote on sexual dimorphism for the Journal of Neuroscience.
- Kevin De Cock, director of HIV/AIDS at the World Health Organisation, who announced on 13 December 2006 that circumcision could halve men's risk of contracting HIV.
- Reg Empey, member of the Northern Ireland Assembly for East Belfast; his job is equivalent to the role of "MP".
- Jonah Fisher, BBC reporter assigned to the Greenpeace ship tracking the Japanese whaling fleet in January 2008
- Al Gore, former Vice President of the United States, started in the family business of raising Black Angus bulls.
- Professor Alan Heavens, Institute for Astronomy, The University of Edinburgh.
- Joe Holiday, Gibraltarian minister for tourism[6].
- Lord Justice Judge, British High Court judge.
- Richard "Dick" Justice, associate dean of students at the University of Illinois, executive director of the disciplinary committee, with a specific mandate to assist in matters of sexual abuse.
- Derek and Dale Kickett, players of Australian Rules Football.
- Chris Lamb, consumer marketing manager at the UK's Meat and Livestock Commission.
- Tom Lehrer was a Harvard University math professor, and Lehrer is the German for (male) teacher.
- Brenda Love, author of The Encyclopedia of Unusual Sex Practices.
- William Shakespeare, professor of English Literature at Brigham Young University.
- Cardinal Sin, former Archbishop of Manila.
- Anna Smashnova the Israeli tennis player.
- Dan Smiley, director of Milwaukee's Summerfest, which uses a smiley-face logo in all promotions.
- Larry Speakes, a Whitehouse spokesman to several Presidents, most notably Ronald Reagan.
- Scott Speed, Formula 1 race car driver, similarly NASCAR driver Lake Speed.
- Margaret Spellings, Secretary of Education in the United States Government.
- J.W. Splatt and D. Weedon, urologists who published several papers on incontinence together. It was discussion of Splatt and Weedon that led New Scientist to coin the term in the first place.
- Dee Dee Trotter, elite runner and U.S. 400 meter champion.
- Mikhail Tsvet, botanist who invented chromatography: his name in Russian means both "flower" and "colour".
- Arsene Wenger, manager of Arsenal FC.
- Wolfgang Wolf, former manager of German football club VFL Wolfsburg.
[edit] Research into nominative determinism
- Bennett, HJ. (1992-12-02). "A piece of my mind. Calling Dr Doctor". JAMA 268 (21): 3060. PMID 1306061. commented on by Balestra and Hug (below):
- Balestra, DJ. (1993-04-07). "Dr Doctor calls back". JAMA 269 (13): 1637. PMID 8455293.
- Hug, Hr. (1993-04-07). "Dr Doctor calls back". JAMA 269 (13): 1637. PMID 8455294.
- Casler, L. (1975). "Put the Blame on Name". Psychol Rep 36 (2): 467–472.
- Christenfeld, N; Phillips DP, Glynn LM (September 1999). "What's in a name: Mortality and the power of symbols". J Psychsom Res 47 (3): 241–254. doi:. PMID 10576473.
- Cole, C (2001-02-09). "Is work calling your name?". George Street Journal 25.
- Dickson, P. (1996). What's in a name?. Springfield MA.: Merriam-Webster.
- Joubert, CE. (1985). "Factors Related To Individuals Attitudes Toward Their Names". Psychol Rep 57 (3): 983–986.
- Luscri, G; Mohr PB (June 1998). "Surname effects in judgments of mock jurors". Psychol Rep 82 (3): 1023–1026.
- Murphy, WF (1957). "A Note on the Significance of Names". The Psychoanalytic Quarterly 26: 91–106.
- Nuessel, F (1994). The Study of Names. Greenwood Press.
- Slovenko, R (1983). "The Destiny Of A Name". J Psychiatry Law 11 (2): 227–270.
- Slovenko, R (April 1980). "On naming". Am J Psychother 34 (2): 208–219. PMID 7386692.
- Strumpfer, DJW (1978). "Relationship Between Attitudes Toward Ones Names And Self-Esteem". Psychol Rep 43 (3): 699–702.
[edit] References
- ^ Splatt AJ, Weedon D. The urethral syndrome: experience with the Richardson urethroplasty. Br J Urol. 1977 Apr;49(2):173–176.
- ^ New Scientist, Feedback, 05 November 1994
- ^ New Scientist, Feedback, 20 April 1996
- ^ New Scientist, Feedback, 20 April 1996
- ^ New Scientist, Feedback 22 June 1996
- ^ .Government of Gibraltar Press Release Minister Holiday meets Moroccan Counterpart
