This week we at Guru have been thinking a lot about people and their professions, so much so that we found out a new word. Aptronym.
When someone has a name that sounds like their job this is known as an Aptronym, quoting from the Encyclopedia Britannica:
“The term aptronym was allegedly coined by the American newspaper columnist Franklin P. Adams, by an anagrammatic reordering of the first letters of patronym (to suggest apt) to denote surnames that suit the occupation of the name’s bearer (such as Baker for a baker)”.
Here are a few Aptronyms that we particularly liked…
Warren Buffett
Owns a stake in the food company Kraft Foods.
Margaret Spellings
Bush’s former secretary of education.
Scott Speed
A current Nascar Racing Driver
William Wordsworth
The great English poet.
Margaret Court
A former Australian world number one tennis champion.
Bernard Madoff
The former chairman of the NASDAQ stock exchange who “made off ” with billions of investment through a Ponzi scheme turning out to be the largest investment fraud in Wall Street history.
Leo Beenhakker
The famous Dutch footballer and international manager whose Dutch surname translates to “leg chopper”
If you have any aptronym suggestions we would love you to share them with us, get in touch.