re: Truths or near-certainties about certain people's names...

quote:

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Whether most people admit it or not, I have always subscribed to the belief that the name you are given at birth will go a long way in determining what kind of person you will ultimately become.

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They did a whole Freakonomics podcast about this entitled How Much Does Your Name Matter. Although there is some evidence of the impact of one's name more broadly speaking (e.g., general biases) there isn't much evidence for the deterministic hypothesis.