Meet the British Columbians whose names match their lives
The idea of nominative determinism — that your name ends up matching what you do in your life — isn’t a new one, and a psychologist says the phenomenon has been observed in large-scale studies of entire countries’ census data.
![Meet the British Columbians whose names match their lives](https://i.cbc.ca/1.7219036.1717119174!/fileImage/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/16x9_620/forrest-tower-terry-bird-robyn-byrne.jpg)
![Forrest Tower, left, is a wildfire information officer. Terry Bird, centre, and Robyn Byrne, right, are both avid birders who volunteer at a bird observatory. They're among a number of people whose names match their lives — a phenomenon that a psychologist says has some backing. A composite of two white men and a white woman, all of whom are smiling.](https://i.cbc.ca/1.7219036.1717119174!/fileImage/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/16x9_620/forrest-tower-terry-bird-robyn-byrne.jpg)
The idea of nominative determinism — that your name ends up matching what you do in your life — isn’t a new one, and a psychologist says the phenomenon has been observed in large-scale studies of entire countries’ census data.