Dr. Chopp, Meet Congressman Weiner
In March, at the Congressional Correspondents' Dinner, Rep. Anthony Weiner made cracks about his surname.
"It's part of me, it's part of the campaign slogans," he said. "Vote for Weiner. He'll be frank. Vote for Weiner. He's on a roll." Although he'd been teased about it as a kid, the New York congressman said he'd learned to embrace his name. (click below to read more)
A few months later that same name—which ranks 2,238 in frequency among U.S. surnames, according to U.S. Census data—became fodder for relentless jokes and headlines after Rep. Weiner admitted he'd sent women lewd photos of himself over the Internet. As the humbled congressman discovered, memorable names can be both a blessing and a curse.
When personal-injury lawyer Patricia Z. Boguslawski argued her first motion in court, the judge paused when he saw her name.
"He said, on the record, 'Bogus law. Bogus law.' I said, 'Yes your honor, bogus law is in my name. However, the law that I am about to argue is not bogus," Ms. Boguslawski recalls. The Teaneck, N.J.-based lawyer went on to win the motion.
In a controversial, widely cited 2002 paper published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, researchers from the State University of New York at Buffalo found that people were more likely to choose professions with names that are similar to their own first names. Another study, out of Wayne State University, Detroit, found that medical doctors and lawyers were more likely to have last names that somehow evoked their professions. It was published last year in the journal "Names: A Journal of Onomastics."
Frank Nuessel is a professor of languages and linguistics at the University of Louisville, in Kentucky, and editor of the "Names" journal. He coined the term "aptonyms." These refer to names that mirror their holders' professions, such as "Anita House" for a real-estate agent. Still, as a scholar of names, Mr. Nuessel says, "I really don't believe in nominal determinism. Probably most of these tend to be accidental."
"The possibility that a name really impacts big life decisions is an extraordinary claim and we need extraordinary evidence," says Uri Simonsohn, an assistant professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He is the author of two forthcoming reports to be published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology that dispute the findings of some previous name research.
While he didn't base his career on his name, Austin, Texas-based urologist Richard Chopp, who goes by "Rick," has managed to have some fun with it professionally.
Although he tries to be sensitive about emphasizing his name in marketing materials, patients who get a vasectomy at Dr. Chopp's practice leave with a T-shirt that reads "I was 'chopped' at The Urology Team, P.A." Dr. Chopp says he sometimes sees people wearing the shirts at the beach or at local festivals.
"I don't take myself all that seriously," he says, adding that people ask him four or five times per week if he changed his name once he entered the field. (He didn't.)
Sex therapist Jacqueline Rose Hott, of Great Neck, N.Y., says patients often bring up her name to help break the ice. "We joke about it and then get down to business," she says.
A family team of realtors in Weirton, W.V., with the optimistic-sounding name Greathouse, says it gets at least three calls per month from marketers offering to help advertise the family's services.
"It's really nonstop. The most common one is just to split the name up, 'Buy a great house.' I'll go out to dinner and people will come up to me and ask if I've ever thought about a slogan," says Cory Greathouse, whose mother and father are also realtors.
Scarsdale, N.Y., cardiologist Douglas Hart says his name had nothing to do with his chosen medical specialty.
In fact, he says, he has yet to hear a funny remark from patients who draw the connection between his name and profession—though he says some patients seem to randomly select him from a list of doctors provided by their HMO based on his name.
"I've been waiting 14 years for someone to say something clever. It never gets beyond, 'Ah ha!'" he said.
Some people may find themselves inclined toward a particular profession because of their name.
Growing up, Sue Yoo, an in-house lawyer for Think Passenger Inc., a Los Angeles social media firm, never had dreams of becoming an attorney. "But when I was younger, people always said 'Oh my god, that's your name, you should totally become a lawyer,'" recalls Ms. Yoo. Perhaps "psychologically that helped me decide to go in that direction," she says.
Although Ms. Yoo was sometimes teased about her name as a child, she now finds it helpful because few people forget it.
The marketing potential of her name, however, may be wasted at the moment. In her current job as in-house counsel, "I actually don't litigate. I don't sue anyone," she says.
Will Wynn, the former mayor of Austin, Texas, who served from 2003 to 2009, has a name that some might say pre-determined his political success.
When Mr. Wynn decided to run for mayor, he assembled his campaign staff and offered to award $1,000 to any member of the team who could come up with a clever campaign slogan using his name in a manner that "I didn't already hear in the second grade," says Mr. Wynn.
"They came up with everything imaginable—'Will Wynn Will Win,' 'We All Will Win When Will Wynn Wins,'" that sort of thing. But I heard them all before," Mr. Wynn recalled. "No one is more clever than a bunch of second-grade kids on the playground."
No prize was awarded, but Mr. Wynn did win two terms as mayor.
In March, at the Congressional Correspondents' Dinner, Rep. Anthony Weiner made cracks about his surname.
"It's part of me, it's part of the campaign slogans," he said. "Vote for Weiner. He'll be frank. Vote for Weiner. He's on a roll." Although he'd been teased about it as a kid, the New York congressman said he'd learned to embrace his name. (click below to read more)
A few months later that same name—which ranks 2,238 in frequency among U.S. surnames, according to U.S. Census data—became fodder for relentless jokes and headlines after Rep. Weiner admitted he'd sent women lewd photos of himself over the Internet. As the humbled congressman discovered, memorable names can be both a blessing and a curse.
When personal-injury lawyer Patricia Z. Boguslawski argued her first motion in court, the judge paused when he saw her name.
"He said, on the record, 'Bogus law. Bogus law.' I said, 'Yes your honor, bogus law is in my name. However, the law that I am about to argue is not bogus," Ms. Boguslawski recalls. The Teaneck, N.J.-based lawyer went on to win the motion.
In a controversial, widely cited 2002 paper published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, researchers from the State University of New York at Buffalo found that people were more likely to choose professions with names that are similar to their own first names. Another study, out of Wayne State University, Detroit, found that medical doctors and lawyers were more likely to have last names that somehow evoked their professions. It was published last year in the journal "Names: A Journal of Onomastics."
Frank Nuessel is a professor of languages and linguistics at the University of Louisville, in Kentucky, and editor of the "Names" journal. He coined the term "aptonyms." These refer to names that mirror their holders' professions, such as "Anita House" for a real-estate agent. Still, as a scholar of names, Mr. Nuessel says, "I really don't believe in nominal determinism. Probably most of these tend to be accidental."
"The possibility that a name really impacts big life decisions is an extraordinary claim and we need extraordinary evidence," says Uri Simonsohn, an assistant professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He is the author of two forthcoming reports to be published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology that dispute the findings of some previous name research.
While he didn't base his career on his name, Austin, Texas-based urologist Richard Chopp, who goes by "Rick," has managed to have some fun with it professionally.
Although he tries to be sensitive about emphasizing his name in marketing materials, patients who get a vasectomy at Dr. Chopp's practice leave with a T-shirt that reads "I was 'chopped' at The Urology Team, P.A." Dr. Chopp says he sometimes sees people wearing the shirts at the beach or at local festivals.
"I don't take myself all that seriously," he says, adding that people ask him four or five times per week if he changed his name once he entered the field. (He didn't.)
Sex therapist Jacqueline Rose Hott, of Great Neck, N.Y., says patients often bring up her name to help break the ice. "We joke about it and then get down to business," she says.
A family team of realtors in Weirton, W.V., with the optimistic-sounding name Greathouse, says it gets at least three calls per month from marketers offering to help advertise the family's services.
"It's really nonstop. The most common one is just to split the name up, 'Buy a great house.' I'll go out to dinner and people will come up to me and ask if I've ever thought about a slogan," says Cory Greathouse, whose mother and father are also realtors.
Scarsdale, N.Y., cardiologist Douglas Hart says his name had nothing to do with his chosen medical specialty.
In fact, he says, he has yet to hear a funny remark from patients who draw the connection between his name and profession—though he says some patients seem to randomly select him from a list of doctors provided by their HMO based on his name.
"I've been waiting 14 years for someone to say something clever. It never gets beyond, 'Ah ha!'" he said.
Some people may find themselves inclined toward a particular profession because of their name.
Growing up, Sue Yoo, an in-house lawyer for Think Passenger Inc., a Los Angeles social media firm, never had dreams of becoming an attorney. "But when I was younger, people always said 'Oh my god, that's your name, you should totally become a lawyer,'" recalls Ms. Yoo. Perhaps "psychologically that helped me decide to go in that direction," she says.
Although Ms. Yoo was sometimes teased about her name as a child, she now finds it helpful because few people forget it.
The marketing potential of her name, however, may be wasted at the moment. In her current job as in-house counsel, "I actually don't litigate. I don't sue anyone," she says.
Will Wynn, the former mayor of Austin, Texas, who served from 2003 to 2009, has a name that some might say pre-determined his political success.
When Mr. Wynn decided to run for mayor, he assembled his campaign staff and offered to award $1,000 to any member of the team who could come up with a clever campaign slogan using his name in a manner that "I didn't already hear in the second grade," says Mr. Wynn.
"They came up with everything imaginable—'Will Wynn Will Win,' 'We All Will Win When Will Wynn Wins,'" that sort of thing. But I heard them all before," Mr. Wynn recalled. "No one is more clever than a bunch of second-grade kids on the playground."
No prize was awarded, but Mr. Wynn did win two terms as mayor.
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