Nominative determinism

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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 .

Nominative determinism is distinct from an eponym.

Published 15 Jul 2017

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Brilliance bias is the tendency for people to think of 'brilliance' as generally a male trait. With fewer women generally recorded in the history books, the brilliant people that come to mind from a young age tend to be men. Underrepresentation has consequences. Careers that are generally understood to require 'brilliance' to succeed, such as maths, physics, or philosophy, are likely to have fewer women working in them. Even at school age, attitudes start to shift in both girls and boys. For example, having an interest in games that require you to be 'really smart' or whether, when asked to draw a scientist, we draw a woman or a man. We need to stop teaching brilliance bias, and we need to celebrate the many female role models we have. My sister shared with me a page on drawing famous faces that showed 49 men to draw, and an example of the board game Guess Who having as many women to guess as it has men with facial hair as an attribute. Caroline Criado Perez's eye-opening book Invisible Women taught me about brilliance bias, including the examples here. Related Ideas to Brilliance Bias One size fits men Build your own panel of advisors…Brilliance bias is the tendency for people to think of 'brilliance' as generally a male trait. With fewer women generally recorded in the history books, the brilliant people that come to mind from a young age tend to be men. Underrepresentation has consequences. Careers that are generally understood to require 'brilliance' to succeed, such as maths, physics, or philosophy, are likely to have fewer women working in them. Even at school age, attitudes start to shift in both girls and boys. For example, having an interest in games that require you to be 'really smart' or whether, when asked to draw a scientist, we draw a woman or a man. We need to stop teaching brilliance bias, and we need to celebrate the many female role models we have. My sister shared with me a page on drawing famous faces that showed 49 men to draw, and an example of the board game Guess Who having as many women to guess as it has men with facial hair as an attribute. Caroline Criado Perez's eye-opening book Invisible Women taught me about brilliance bias, including the examples here. Related Ideas to Brilliance Bias One size fits men Build your own panel of advisors

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