Amayzine

According to science, these are the most beautiful names

By Wieke Veenboer | #!31Thu, 04 May 2023 14:00:08 +0200+02:000831#31Thu, 04 May 2023 14:00:08 +0200+02:00-2Europe/Amsterdam3131Europe/Amsterdam202331 04pm31pm-31Thu, 04 May 2023 14:00:08 +0200+02:002Europe/Amsterdam3131Europe/Amsterdam2023312023Thu, 04 May 2023 14:00:08 +0200002005pmThursday=9#!31Thu, 04 May 2023 14:00:08 +0200+02:00Europe/Amsterdam5#05-04-2023#!31Thu, 04 May 2023 14:00:08 +0200+02:000831#/31Thu, 04 May 2023 14:00:08 +0200+02:00-2Europe/Amsterdam3131Europe/Amsterdam202331#!31Thu, 04 May 2023 14:00:08 +0200+02:00Europe/Amsterdam5#

Mother and child laughing at computer screen

If there is a list that I have never been so sure that I am not on, then this is it. I still blame my parents daily: what possessed them to name me Wieke? A shame, because it is such an ugly name. If they had just done some research and listened to science, I would now be here with a beautiful name. Because yes: this has really been researched.

This research was conducted by Bodo Winter, professor of cognitive linguistics at the University of Birmingham. He investigated what the most beautiful names were, for boys and for girls, based on how they sound. James Adelman (University of Warwick) also researched this in 2018: it can therefore be scientifically substantiated how pleasant a name is to hear. This depends on several factors, such as the number of vowels and syllables.

However, there is a small caveat: this research was really only done on first names. So it may very well be that a beautiful first name (according to science) does not go well with a certain last name, for example if the first name ends with the same vowel that the last name starts with. Example: Eva Arends.

According to science, these are the most beautiful names for boys

1. Matthew
2. Julian
3. William
4. Isaiah
5. Leo
6. Levi
7. Joseph
8. Theo
9. Isaac
10. Samuel

According to science, these are the most beautiful names for girls

1. Sophia
2. Zoe
3. Everly
4. Sophie
5. Riley
6. Ivy
7. Paisley
8. Willow
9. Elie
10. Emily