💬 Quoted: “Nominative determinism would suggest that a person named Dennis is more likely to choose to be a dentist than, say, a lawyer, or that Dennis is more likely to choose to live in Denver than Cleveland.”

• People across the world tend to gravitate towards professions and cities that share the same first letter as their name at a rate too high to be considered coincidental, per a recent study from University of Utah scientists. Their research involved using AI tools trained on Common Crawl, X, Google News, and Google Books to capture millions of people’s names, professions, and cities of residence across recent decades. After controlling for factors like gender, ethnicity, and the frequency of names/professions, researchers found “consistent evidence” that people are more likely to make major life decisions tied to things that share the same letter as their first name. The results support the concept of nominative determinism, a scientific hypothesis that suggests a person’s name subconsciously affects their career arcs and other major life choices (e.g., world-famous sprinter Usain Bolt, or Nintendo of America President Doug Bowser).

📰 Stat of the Day: PSA to all first-time home buyers: you might want to add an extra 15 C-notes to your monthly expense budget. The average cost of owning and maintaining a single-family US home – including property taxes, homeowners insurance, and energy/internet/cable bills – is currently ~$1,510/month in addition to mortgage payments, up 26% compared to four years ago, per a new Bankrate study.

🤔 Did You Know? Theodore Roosevelt is the only US President to receive the Medal of Honor. He was awarded it posthumously in 2001 for his actions at the Battle of San Juan Hill (1898).

📰 Worth a Read: The wild tale of the man who founded Rainforest Cafe → (The Hustle)