Nominative determinism

Started by SueC, December 14, 2019, 00:36:33

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SueC

This is for @Ulrich, because I giggled when I found out his surname.   :angel

Would anyone here like to play "nominative determinism"?

Here's a few examples. Add any you know.

I had a zoology demonstrator at university who was studying fish, and his name was Howard Gill.

One our state treasurers once was called Eric Ripper.

I had to have an operation once, and my surgeon's name was Dr Gilette. This fact nearly killed me!  Death by ruptured diaphragm!  :rofl

When I was working in Sydney, I used to drive past a sign that said, "Dr Fang, Dental Surgery" and it took a fair bit of self-control not to totally lose it and have a traffic accident.

Oh, and just to be fair to @Ulrich, our surname is Coulstock and supposedly means either "the people who grow cabbages" (which we're bad at, but we grow pretty good kale, which is related) or "the people from near the river Cole" - although my husband insists that it really means "the smiter of the foe"!

Now, nominative determinism and The Cure?

Well, there's the band name, and make of that what you will.  :)

I think in terms of individual members, Simon Gallup gets the nominative determinism award from me, but I have to pun it - he tends to "gallup" all over the stage.

A cooper is a barrel-maker, and a drum is a kind of barrel... at a stretch.

Perry Bamonte's surname is Italian.  "Monte" means mountain, not sure about the prefix or whether the whole thing means something completely different (like "nightmare" actually has nothing to do with female horses, it just has "mare" in it).  An Italian given to punning, since Italian sheep also go "baa," might see sheep on a mountain, or a shepherd scene, when thinking about this name.  As to the literal meaning of the surname, ancestry.com has this:  Bamonte, Name, Meaning :  Italian: in Campania, probably a reduced form of Baiamonte, Buiamonte, a nickname for a very large or strong man, from buia, an aphetic form of abbuia 'obscures' + monte 'mountain'.

Mmm.  Everyone else from the group past and present is difficult for me to do anything related to nominative determinism with - any bright ideas?

More fun examples here:

https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/27992/nominative-determinism-yes-thats-his-real-name

https://www.oddee.com/item_99652.aspx

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nominative_determinism
SueC is time travelling

Ulrich

Well, if my name is U. Schweiger, I'll say nothing to this thread...  ;)
The holy city breathed like a dying man...

SueC

Well, it's a good thing it's not!  :angel

But you could in theory be U.Spiegel / Spiegelmann (a great surname for German fans of the Human League) / Eulenspiegel.   :-D

Here's an interesting page:

https://www.namen-liste.de/nachnamen-s/

...with some interesting names.

Herr Stempel clearly works at the post office.
Herr Stock makes fine walking sticks.
Herr Stier is a famous breeder of pedigree bulls.
Herr Steuer simply has to work for the tax office (unless he's the pilot of a large ship).
Herr Strassburger is probably fond of sausages.
Herr Stolle assembles sandwiches.
Herr Stolper needs to see Herr Schuhmacher, or perhaps Herr Schenkel or Herr Schienbein.
Herr Scherz works in stand-up comedy, or in the making of useless gadgets.

I really like the name Schimmelpfennig - it's so expressive...

This page reminds me of the fun I had with a friend when we were around 9 and spent a summer holiday together.  One of our favourite summer activities was going through the telephone book to find interesting names, and then making up stories about the lives of these people.  We wrote the stories down and illustrated them in little booklets.  Sometimes we thought about phoning our favourite people, but thought the better of it.   :beaming-face   Our favourite name of them all was "Schmersal" - it made us laugh for hours, just because of how it sounds, and we wrote so much about the imaginary Herr Schmersal and his family...

I notice Schmersal is not on this list, and therefore it can't be considered comprehensive.
SueC is time travelling

SueC

How about this for a case of nominative determinism?  A UK artist called Simon Drew!  :lol:









SueC is time travelling

Ulrich

Nice ones, I like Dali Havidson (reminds me of "Harley David,son of a b...")!  :lol:
The holy city breathed like a dying man...

SueC

Yeah, Brett has a mug with the Dali Havidson on it, which is how I first "met" this artist.  Simon Drew seems to have one of those minds too, that plays with words - so he happened to spoonerise the motorbike brand, but then more importantly had the talent to depict it!  :cool

We had a horrible politician here called Barry O'Farrell, and forever after we've just called him Farry O'Barrel.  We were really amused when a friend who also does these things with words was referring to him independently as Farry O'Barrel - without ever having heard us do it - great minds think alike bwahahaha.  :rofl

Also that thing in America, at our place we refer to him as the Resident Rump.  It was so obvious and just suits so well. :evil:
SueC is time travelling