A lot of players claim they were born to be footballers, but some can lay a greater stake to that claim that others. That’s because some footballers were born with surnames that are particularly well suited to a career in the game.
Nominative determinism is the phenomenon that creates bakers called Mr Bunn. Here are some of football’s finest examples.
Tom Glover
Tottenham Hotspur youth team keeper seemed destined to don his most important piece of kit.
Dominique Dropsy
The late France international goalkeeper plied his trade at Valenciennes, Strasbourg and Bordeaux in the 1970s and 1980s. You could forgive his defenders for not trusting him with crosses.
Mark De Man
This Belgian defender, once of Anderlecht, was bestowed with the most basic of defensive instructions as his name.
Nicky Marker
The former Exeter City, Plymouth Argyle and Blackburn Rovers man was immediately marked out as a centre-back.
Nicky Cross
Former West Brom, Walsall, Leicester and Port Vale striker thrived on getting on the end of a good… well, you know.
Jonas Hoofd
What better name for a lower league defender than this Belgian’s moniker?
Peter Skipper
Former Hull City defender. You’ve guessed it: the captain’s armband was his.
Danny Diver
We don’t know if this retired Scottish player was ever booked for simulation, but the ref would have had a laugh if he was.
Felix Passlack
This Borussia Dortmund starlet doesn’t exactly sound like a midfielder you’d trust with the ball.
Geraint Passmore
That’s more like it. This Welsh part-timer sounds like a more suitable midfielder.
Fred Forward
Portsmouth and Newport County winger of the 1920s.
Eder
The 6ft 3in Swansea City striker sounds like the ideal targetman.
Robbie Fowler
Liverpool’s legendary striker was destined to catch the attention of referees with a name like that.
Jean-Jacques Misse-Misse
This Cameroon international, once briefly of Chesterfield, was inevitably a striker.
Have we missed an appropriately named footballer? Tell us your favourites below.
