Talk:Nominative determinism

Semi-protected edit request on 27 June 2025

changing the way things are written to encompass more cultures. from " In pre-urban times, people were only known by a single name – for example, the Anglo-Saxon name Beornheard" to "For many cultures, in pre-urban times people were only known by a single name – for example, the Anglo-Saxon name Beornheard" Arbie.wizarD (talk) 00:21, 27 June 2025 (UTC)

 Not done: The page's protection level has changed since this request was placed. You should now be able to edit the page yourself. If you still seem to be unable to, please reopen the request with further details. SI09 (talk) 04:28, 28 June 2025 (UTC)

Motivated perception in research?

"Second was urology, with 1 in 59 related names such as Burns, Waterfall, Ball, and Koch."

I know the point of a discussion page is to discuss the article but is this source honestly academic research? I don't know about other people, but pissing is one of the last things I would associate with the word "burns", and not even the main medical specialism. As for "Ball", I don't think I'd have to tell this to academics, but urine doesn't come from the testes, and especially not for half of the human population. Is this not motivated perception, taking names with nothing to do with a profession, and then making a link to it? Unknown Temptation (talk) 17:26, 27 June 2025 (UTC)

I'm not sure how serious this post is, but if you read the opening sentence of urology you'll learn the scope of the specialism, which includes the whole reproductive system (regardless of its role in facilitating removal of the yellow stuff). EditorInTheRye (talk) 17:49, 27 June 2025 (UTC)

I don't know how serious this research is. "Downs, Lowe, Bhatti, Moodie, Nutt" are listed for psychiatry. Down syndrome is a genetic condition that has a variety of effects including intellectual disability. It is not primarily a matter for a psychiatrist. The rest seems like bad puns from a Viz comic, and highly pejorative and antiquated for the era the paper was published. Do medical journals also have "and finally" articles like the news, because this looks like one. Unknown Temptation (talk) 17:35, 27 June 2025 (UTC)

Or possibly "Downs" relates to "feeling down", which would be applicable. - SchroCat (talk) 18:21, 27 June 2025 (UTC)

Given that Down syndrome is named after a person (John Langdon Down), your suggestion is almost certainly the case, or you'd have some sort of circular nominative determinism. EditorInTheRye (talk) 18:56, 27 June 2025 (UTC)

Not just circular reasoning. This whole idea sounds like it was written by men about men. What about the vast number of women who advance in a career but take on their husband's name? Did her husband's last name magically guide her into the career she chose? Or did the researchers even bother to investigate birth names of women? 2601:600:C400:7310:7816:89E8:FC23:558 (talk) 20:32, 27 June 2025 (UTC)

Benjamin Strong

Extremely influential figure in the US Federal Reserve with a very institutionally aligned name ~2025-43240-89 (talk) 02:17, 27 December 2025 (UTC)

Chris Moneymaker and his friend David Gamble

This article deserves mention of Christopher Moneymaker, the 2003 Poker World Champion, and his friend, David Gamble, who lent him money, gambling on him winning money in the tournament. Source: https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2005/oct/07/smalltalk.sportinterviews Meletao (talk) 23:14, 12 April 2026 (UTC)

Sonja Lang, a linguist. ~2026-25490-02 (talk) 02:25, 26 April 2026 (UTC)