There is a well known basketball player where I live named “Basketer” (translated into English).
One of the interesting things about the myth of Perseus is that the names of so many of the haracters are virtually the same as their function, as if the original framers of the myth simply inserted 'placeholder" names, intending to come back later and put more realistic-sounding names in there, but never did.
So the name Perseus itself has, one commentator argued, been derived from the word for “Cutter”. Perseus, of course, cuts off the head of Medusa with his characteristic sword, the harpe.
His mother , Danae, has a name that is basically “woman of the Danaans”, the Danaans being the Greeks who lived in that area.
Perseus and Danae are shut up in a wooden chest and tossed into the sea. They are pulled out by the fisherman Dikthys in his net. His name means “net”.
Dikthys’ brother, who lusts after Danae (and who thus starts the events of the myth going) is Polydektes – “Many nets”
Medusa, by the way, means “Ruler” or “queen”
There’s a story about Bruno Hauptmann (Lindbergh baby kidnapper) from when he was in the German army in WWI. The word for “captain” in German is Hauptmann. So when an officer asked his name, Bruno replied “Hauptmann, Herr Hauptmann.” The captain thought Bruno was mocking him, and became irate.
I just realized…
If I described a job I once had you would call it working in a Call Center, but we had a different name.
Our manager was Mr. Call. So, Mr. Call was over the “Call Center”.
John C. Flood, John fix flood.
plumbers
My kids’ high school music teacher was Mr. Tootle.
I once knew a teacher named Mr. Plane, but unfortunately he wasn’t the math teacher. Or aerospace engineering either.
Or woodworking.
That turmeric commercial with Dr. Stork prompted me to wonder if there are any obstetricians named Stork, so I asked Google.
When I was in third or fourth grade, a Mrs. School was a substitute teacher for my class.
My dad was a regular customer of Becker’s Donuts and Bakery in suburban Cleveland. “Becker” means “baker” in several Germanic languages.
Ah, I got one. I once met an engineer working at a printer company. Last name was Drucker, which means…printer.
I had a very assertive girlfriend for a while named Dominique.
I just discovered that there have been five guys with the surname Pitcher in minor league baseball. Four of the five were pitchers.
The President of the Royal Horticulural Society is Keith Weed.
Amy Freeze, meteorologist.
Wolf Blitzer, CNN’s war correspondent during the Gulf war.
I once knew a young woman named Soo who was studying to be a lawyer.
Had a home ec teacher named Mrs Button. I learned how to sew a pillow that year.
In my town there are two brothers who are butchers, whose name is Boucher (= butcher).
There’s a well-known environmentalist called Daniel Green who was deputy leader of the Green Party of Canada for several years.
During the big ice storm in Québec in 1998, when many regions were without power and many roads and bridges were closed, and we were all listening to the daily press conferences on our battery-powered radios, the spokeswoman for the electrical utility was a lady called Bougie (= candle) and the spokesman for the transport ministry was called Barrière (= barrier).
My first opthamologist was named Dr. Glassman.