Nominative determinism

Nominative determinism is the idea that people might inadvertently be drawn to careers related to their names. It suggests that if you are called Baker, you might unknowingly gravitate towards a career in baked goods. Sort of the opposite of someone with the surname of Baker because the family was once bakers.

Also known as an aptronym.

A few more:

Les McBurney — Volunteer firefighter
Dr. Lauren Hyman — Gynecologist
Dr. Chip Silvertooth — Dentist
Paul Schwinghammer — Contractor

Apparently coined in the New Scientist by reader C. R. Cavonius after people kept submitting examples, including those in the sketch. More examples here .

Published 15 Jul 2017

A weekly sketch by email

Learn something new in a sketch each Sunday

Sketchplanations in a book! I think you'll love Big Ideas Little Pictures

Prefer to listen?
Try the podcast

Like Sketchplanations?
Support me on Patreon

Keep exploring

The Upward Spiral

Law of diminishing returns

The first draft is always perfect

The Implicit Association Test

Homonyms, homographs, homophones, heteronyms…

Brilliance bias

The upward spiral is Stephen R. Covey's simple model of personal growth and change, which repeats the three steps: Learn, Commit, and Do. Of course, we are all doing all of the time. The difference is taking the time and effort to learn from our doing, and deciding to commit to how we want to grow, and deliberately putting it into action. Getting better is in our control. Though it didn't seem like it would take any effort, I've found the commit step to be surprisingly important. For me, "Commit" means actively deciding to make a change and following through with it. It's the difference between finding something intriguing versus deciding that you're going to do something about it. Coupling the "Commit" with getting specific using, for example, implementation intentions can increase the chance of getting on that upward spiral. "Commit" is the mental shift of telling yourself you're going to make a change. Repeating each of the three steps again and again is a simple and guaranteed path to improving at anything we try. Stephen Covey discusses the upward spiral as part of sharpening the saw—renewing, refreshing and recharging ourselves to be the best we can be: "Renewal is the principle—and the process—that empowers us to move on an upward spiral of growth and change, of continuous improvement." — Dr Stephen R. Covey Also see: sharpen the saw, the express-test cycle…The upward spiral is Stephen R. Covey's simple model of personal growth and change, which repeats the three steps: Learn, Commit, and Do. Of course, we are all doing all of the time. The difference is taking the time and effort to learn from our doing, and deciding to commit to how we want to grow, and deliberately putting it into action. Getting better is in our control. Though it didn't seem like it would take any effort, I've found the commit step to be surprisingly important. For me, "Commit" means actively deciding to make a change and following through with it. It's the difference between finding something intriguing versus deciding that you're going to do something about it. Coupling the "Commit" with getting specific using, for example, implementation intentions can increase the chance of getting on that upward spiral. "Commit" is the mental shift of telling yourself you're going to make a change. Repeating each of the three steps again and again is a simple and guaranteed path to improving at anything we try. Stephen Covey discusses the upward spiral as part of sharpening the saw—renewing, refreshing and recharging ourselves to be the best we can be: "Renewal is the principle—and the process—that empowers us to move on an upward spiral of growth and change, of continuous improvement." — Dr Stephen R. Covey Also see: sharpen the saw, the express-test cycle

Newer

RRandom

Older