Take a guess at what Pete, Allen and Bob have in common. I’ll give it to you straight from the shoulder: they’re car salesmen.
Verdant Labs, responsible for creating the Nametrix app, has unearthed some interesting results about the connection between our names and professions.
In their latest blog post, the company revealed that for any given career, there are names popping up more often in that profession than in the general population. Based on data records, here’s what they’ve stumbled on:
The infographic, with 6 names that are the “most disproportionately common” in 37 professions, covers an eclectic mix. Click here to view the full chart.
In an explanation of the science behind the numbers, one of the researchers writes: “In our sample of two and a half million people, a whopping 1.9% of Arnolds are accountants. Contrast that with just 0.55% of Shanes. Arnolds therefore appear to have a much higher tendency to be accountants than Shanes.”
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I’m not going to lie: I spent a couple of seconds perusing the chart, wondering if my name was included in one of the job professions (it’s not). I guess Priscilla isn’t a common name in the States.
It’s interesting that there aren’t that many Elvises in this world, but a big group of them are musicians. This is the same thing I found out about poets. Edgar? Dorothy? Sound familiar? Could they be named after Edgar Allen Poe and Dorothy Parker?
Could these people be so immensely influenced by their parents’ choice of names that they’ve subconsciously applied them to their careers?
Take a look at the above mentioned picture. I’m hardly surprised at the name Luigi being common amongst race car drivers. Villoresi, Musso, Chinetti — not only are they the greats in racing, but they also share the same first name. Big fans tend to name their kids after their favourite idols, so this shouldn’t come off as a shock.
Over and above that, a big part of me wondered if maybe, just maybe, it had something to do with Super Mario Kart. The geek in me is very amused by this.
Verdant Labs has posed more questions than answers, and it would be interesting if the researchers could provide some of the social and economic factors resulting in their findings.
In the meantime, if you’d like to find out more about the company’s baby names app, check this out.
Also read: Job Relate Co-Founder Denny Asalim On Job Hunting Experiences, Job Relate, And How To Get A Job
