Our Names, Our Jobs

Can we blame Ron Paul’s political ambitions on his last name? Research suggests that people choose — or are unconsciously drawn to — careers that resemble their own names. The effect is stronger for women’s first names and men’s last names; psychologists hypothesize that women are less attached to their last names because they anticipate taking their husbands’.

If your name is Larry, are you more likely to become a lawyer? And if your name is Denise are you more likely to become a dentist? Psychologists from a 2002 study say that our first and last names may have a correlation to the jobs we end up in due to “implicit egotism,” in which we unconsciously associate ourselves with other things.

Okay, so that does mean I should have been a … Milkman … a … Danger to society? I guess I’m a danger to society.

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