January 25 – Alicia Keys gets a nominative deterministic teaser

I didn’t used to know about stage names. I figured you were born with a great name related to what you would end up becoming great at. Then I learned about nominative determinism, the hypothesis that people tend to gravitate towards areas of work that fit their names. This might be why Daniel Snowman wrote a book on polar explorations. It could be how Robin Mahfood became the president of Food for the Poor, how Patience Scales started teaching piano, or how Cardinal Rasping because the Vatican’s spokesman on the evils of rock ‘n roll. Can you believe Armand Hammer, great-great-grandfather of Armie, became a director for the company that owned Arm & Hammer? Me neither. You know, you could have kept your real name if you just pursued a career as a chef. But we’ll leave that to Raekwon.