
Aptronym - wiradikusuma
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aptronym
======
DjangoReinhardt
This thread along with the wiki article reads like a punster's/stand-up
comic's wet dream.

Speaking of which, the next stand-up comic to adopt an aptronym (or an
inaptronym) stands a great chance of being immortalized on a Wiki page,
quicker than most others.I wonder if I should start trying for gigs using the
stage-name Mei Q. Laffard...

------
ronilan
Surprisingly missing - Larry Page, who invented a machine that ranks pages.

~~~
philwelch
People think PageRank is an algorithm for ranking pages, but it's named after
its discoverer.

~~~
ChikkaChiChi
I was one such person.

~~~
wiradikusuma
What did you discover/do?

~~~
ryanklee
Parent is saying they misconstrued PageRank as having been named for its
function rather than after (one of its) coders.

------
the_watcher
This is just a fantastic list. Now one of my favorite Wikipedia lists,
alongside List of Unusual Deaths.[1] I'm always shocked at how many people
were crushed by elephants.

[1][http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_unusual_deaths](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_unusual_deaths)

~~~
Argorak
The "see also" list is worth a look...

Elephants are surprisingly easy to overlook and behave erraticly if you split
their group (e.g. by carelessly driving a car between the group). It is not
unusual for cars to be hit by elephants running to their mother.

Still, don't fear elephants to much: Hippos are actually dangerous as hell.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippopotamus#Aggression](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippopotamus#Aggression)

~~~
the_watcher
Hippos are possibly the most secretly dangerous animal on the planet. They
look harmless because most representations of them focus on making them look
fat and jolly, but their hide is as tough as a rhino, they have alligator-
level power in their jaws, and they are mean. It's one of my favorite bar
trivia bits to throw out: asking people what the most dangerous African animal
is.

------
frogpelt
Chris Moneymaker, the WSOP winner, is my favorite example of this.

EDIT: I wonder how many of these people were drawn to their careers by the
fact that they were aptly named for the career choice. I imagine the first
time Chris Moneymaker considered playing poker his name was brought up in the
conversation.

------
M4v3R
I was looking for Kim Dotcom on the list, but didn't found him. Maybe it's
because he actually changed his name to this, and wasn't naturally born with
it. Still, he's a great example of a person having an Aptronym name.

------
pit
The Way of the World, by William Congreve, is full of them: a wannabe funnyman
named Witwoud, a servant called Waitwell, Lady Fainall (feign-all), Lady
Wishfort (wish for it).

Comedy gold, circa 1700.

------
philwelch
Last year was a good year for aptronyms in soccer, because not only did we
have Arsene Wenger managing Arsenal, but Roberto Mancini managing Manchester
City ("Man City").

~~~
Avenger42
It's worth noting that his name is pronounced "man-CHEE-nee", not "man-SEE-
nee" (or at least that's how they pronounced it when I would watch the games
last year).

~~~
philwelch
Yes, but visually it works out. Though not as well as the TV graphic that
reads, "Arsene Wenger: Arsenal Manager". That one is outright uncanny at a
glance.

------
GotAnyMegadeth
At my school we genuinely had Mrs. Eatwell, a foodtech teacher and Mr Leggett,
a PE teacher. Mr Eatwell also worked at the school as a DT "teacher", and was
fat.

~~~
ledge
We had a gym teacher named Mr. Bigott who got fired for a racially charged
incident, no lie.

------
jdmitch
The list of inaptronyms at the bottom are particularly hilarious, including
the "former Archbishop of Manila, Jaime L. Sin, known as Cardinal Sin."

------
terhechte
Thanks for posting this! I had read about this before, but had forgotten
where. And whenever such a topic in a conversation came up, and I told people
about this thing where "sometimes [there are] quite grotesque coincidence[s]
between a man's name and his peculiarities" I couldn't come up with examples
nor remember where I read about it.

------
wiradikusuma
Just curious, what is the term for the (sort of) reverse, which essentially to
name your kids with famous brands?

I've seen people named Sony, Panasonic and Honda _because_ their parents
thought of some home appliances which happen to sit nearby (true story).

------
JoeAltmaier
'Lorena Bobbit' is cheating - she is the Source of that term.

~~~
Theodores
...maybe, however, can anyone think of any others that gave their name to
something? E.g. the Hoover family...?

~~~
JoeAltmaier
Sure but it doesn't make their name eponymous but the other way around.

------
ArekDymalski
I was about to close the tab with quiet "meh" when I saw this: "Richard
Smalley, Rice University pioneer in nanotechnology" and it made my day :)

------
arctangent
See also:

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nominative_determinism](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nominative_determinism)

~~~
bazzargh
As well as those (real) examples in the New Scientist, there's a long running
fake correspondence section in Private Eye magazine, 'Pseudo Names'. Here's a
typical, groanworthy example:

    
    
      Sir,
      In Germany, we see Pseudo Names as just a passing fancy.
      HERR TODAY
      GUNTER MORROW.
    
    
      (Sent in by Brian Clifford)

------
return0
'Aptonym' is the most apt word for this.

~~~
ozh
But Aptronym is an anagram for Patronym so it gets you lvl 12 candies for
mixing puns.

------
chrisdevereux
Is "Aptronym" itself an Aptronym?

------
davidw
Reminds me of a neurosurgeon in Oregon named Dr. Hacker.

------
theon144
What's happened to "nomen omen"?

~~~
yuchi
It's simply not cited.It is in
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nominative_determinism](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nominative_determinism)

