Thaindian News

London, Dec 21 (IANS) A surname can influence one’s career choices. Scientists are exploring a new theory on how people are drawn to professions based on their surnames.

The concept has a new name, nominative determinism, to explain why it occurs. The journal New Scientist coined the term after observing that the subject matter of a series of science books and articles bore relevance to the authors’ surnames.

John Hoyland, editor of the journal said: “A reader wrote in to tell me that they had come across a paper on incontinence in the British Journal of Urology which was written by J.W. Splatt and D. Weedon,” according to the Telegraph.

“I had noticed, as it happens, on the same day in the office, a book on the Arctic called ‘Pole Positions: The Polar Regions and the Future of the Planet’, by Daniel Snowman. These two things went together in my mind and I thought there’s something going on here,” said Hoyland.

Research is now being undertaken in search of an explanation for the phenomenon. A study has concluded that people are disproportionately likely to choose careers whose labels resemble their names, the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology reported.

The study cites the disproportionate number of dentists called Denise or Dennis as an example of the trend.

Authors Brett Pelham, Matthew Mirenberg and John Jones concluded that the phenomenon occurs because people prefer things that are connected to the self (for example, the letters in one’s name).

However, the journal New Scientist points out that it is more difficult to explain examples of people who have unfortunate surnames in relation to their jobs such as doctors called Pain or consultant urologist named Nicholas Burns-Cox.