By Mark Edmond

　　What do August, Hannah, and Jules have in common?  It turns out that people with those names are more likely than others to be playwrights.

　　How about Casey, Vincent, and Roy?  They’re more apt to be plumbers.

　　At least that’s what our research at Verdant Labs shows.  While developing the Nametrix app, we analyzed public records to find the most inordinately common names in each profession.

　　Take Elvis, for example.  There aren’t all that many Elvises out there, but a particularly high percentage of them are musicians.  As a result, Elvis ranks high among musician names.  Elvis isn’t the most common name among musicians — that’s likely to be John or some other very popular name. What’s interesting is that it’s way more common among musicians than you might expect, given how rare it is.  In other words, it’s common in that profession relative to its overall frequency.

　　Fortunately, the math behind this isn’t too complicated.  Here’s another example, this time with some numbers.  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.

　　Let’s look at some top names for other professions.

　　Accountant: Maribel, Charmaine, Kurtis, Mindy, Adele

　　Biologist: Stuart, Suzanne, Sara, Cheryl, Janet

　　Car Salesman: Clay, Travis, Pete, Allen, Bob

　　Drummer: Joey, Mickey, Billy, Chad, Tommy

　　Electrical Engineer: Harvey, Eugene, Bernard, Edwin, Charles

　　Farmer: Duane, Marlin, Delbert, Darin, Mavis

　　Firefighter: Brandon, Darren, Ryan, Jason, Jeremy

　　Fitness Instructor: Virginia, Rebecca, Julie, Pamela, Karen

　　Football Coach: Rich, Mike, Bill, Dan, Jim

　　Football Player: Reggie, Jermaine, Darnell, Quinton, Nate

　　Geologist: Henry, Frederick, William, Leonard, Hugh

　　Golfer: Bud, Willie, Tommy, Bobby, Johnny

　　Graphic Designer: Vanessa, Alison, Diana, Jan, Kurt

　　Guitarist: Mick, Richie, Trey, Sonny, Buddy

　　Hair Stylist: Lori, Raymond, Patricia, Susan, Robert

　　Historian: Herbert, Adrienne, Henry, Emma, Theodore

　　Insurance Salesman: Dalton, Garrett, Patty, Brent, Clark

　　Interior Designer: Elise, Marjorie, Martha, Lynne, Bonnie

　　Journalist: Alastair, Gideon, Hanna, Jonah, Louisa

　　Judge: Archibald, Lise, Josiah, Clement, Louise

　　Lawyer:  Norton, William, Sanford, Cecily, Augustus

　　Librarian: Nanette, Margot, Abigail, Johanna, Eleanor

　　Mechanic: Dave, Patrick, Randy, Fred, Jerry

　　Meteorologist: Joe, Bill, Scott, Mike, Jeff

　　Photographer: Zoe, Bruno, Hugo, Annie, Noah

　　Poet: Celia, Hannah, Edgar, Edmund, Dorothy

　　Police Officer: Louis, Kevin, Wayne, Kim, Timothy

　　Rabbi: Chaim, Shlomo, Judah, Meir, Yosef

　　Race Car Driver: Robbie, Johnny, Bobby, Sebastian, Luigi

　　Rancher: Boyd, Leland, Leroy, Judy, Roy

　　Social Worker: Jeannette, Stella, Penelope, Constance, MArsha

　　Soldier: Zachary, Jacob, Jeremy, Kyle, Joshua

　　Songwriter: Richie, Mick, Sonny, Benny, Billy

　　Stuntman: Eddie, Erik, Alex, Ben, Terry

　　Surgeon: Sherwin, Harris, Barrett, Sanford, Holly

　　Venture Capitalist: Joanna, Guy, Shawn, Nicholas, Alexander

　　Veterinarian: Wayne, Sara, Peggy, Tracy, Gene

　　Waiter: Joshua, Sarah, Amy, Elizabeth, Lisa

　　So, do our names influence where we go in life?  Or do the social, geographic, economic, and other factors that might have influenced how our parents named us also direct our career paths?

　　Our hunch is that it’s mostly the latter, but bear in mind that the connection is subtle.  Love the name Erik but don’t want your son to be a daredevil?  Don‘t let the fact that Eriks have a particularly high tendency to become stuntmen stop you from picking that name.

　　Similarly, naming your daughter Holly doesn’t mean she’ll automatically grow up to become a world-renowned surgeon.  She’ll have to go to med school first.

　　Mark Edmond is a Seattle-based app developer and founder of Verdant Labs. He was inspired to create the Lullaby Lyrics app when he realized his repertoire was so limited it put him to sleep rather than his daughter. Nametrix was fueled by an interest in the hard data behind names and helped with the naming of his son.