Wednesday, September 12, 2007

The Name/Occupation Coincidence

Over in Fannie's Room, she mentioned a legal professor named "Molly Lien."
I don't think I have to explain why I think why that's funny, The Wedding Singer style. ("So her name's gonna be Julia Gulia?" "Why is that funny?" "I don't know.")

How is that some people end up with names perfectly suited to their occupations? Is it merely coincidence? Or is there some kind of subconscious thing going on. I read a Patricia Cornwell book once that discusses how people's names actually do have a large impact on the way people turn out. For instance, a "John Match" could end up being an arsonist. Or an "Agatha Gunner" could very well end up being a murderer. Supposedly this happens a lot more than everyone realizes. More than mere coincidence would allow. It's an interesting concept that I would like to research one day.

Personally, I know an O.B./Gyne named "Dr. Box."

One time, there was a professor at my college named "Pat Pusey." Her sign outside her office kept getting stolen by the students.

So, I did a Google search on different variations of this idea, and the best site I could find so far was a site that asks "What is the Best True Name/Occupation Coincidence:" (several are listed here)

Thomas Crapper: Inventor of the Flushable Toilet

Winston Paine, DDS.

An O.B./gyne MD named Dr. Holeman. (haha!)

Dr. Rash, Dermatology

Astle and Astle, Attorneys at Law

Dr. Gutter, Veterinarian

Craig Greathouse, Realtor.

Another site, along the same vein, lists more examples of this (among my favorites):

Barry Black, KKK leader

Simon Wigglesworth, works for Epilepsy Action

Jeremy Crook, businessman and alleged fraudster

Bethany Lye, journalist

Can anyone else think of any?

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Diane Berry - Mortician
Robin Banks - Credit Specialist

Jane Know said...

haha!

do you remember Rusty Pusey? it's too bad he didn't end up being a transexual prostitute.

Anonymous said...

lol.. I totally blocked that name until just now! My sister went to school with a funny one too... Colt Shower swear to god

John said...

According to Ripley, Iccolo Miccolo became piccolo player for the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra.

Jane Know said...

good ones!

Anonymous said...

Marcus Webb, Director of the Amazing Spiderman