Dave’s Diary: Your Name Defines You, Sorry George

A professor of psychology in Great Britain had a theory about names. He felt they contributed to first impressions so he decided to test it out. He asked 7,000 male and female volunteers to imagine they were about to meet a group of people. They were then given a list of 20 male and 20 female names and asked to identify those they thought were the most successful, the most attractive and the luckiest based on the names alone.

Women were far more judgmental in how they assessed others based on their name.

He discovered the Top 10 names that make one sound successful:

• Elizabeth, Caroline, Helen, Olivia, Amanda, Karen, Sarah, Rachel, Ann and Laura
• James, Richard, Michael, William, Andrew, Mark, Robert, David, John and George.

The Top 10 names that make one sound attractive:

• Sophie, Rachel, Olivia, Karen, Katie, Sarah, Grace, Emily, Amanda and Heather
• Ryan, James, Jack, Chris, Michael, Lewis, Andrew, Mark, David and Ian.

The Top 10 names that make one sound lucky:

• Lucy, Katie, Lisa, Sophie, Emma, Julie, Emily, Heather, Rachel and Grace
• Jack, Chris, Ryan, Peter, James, Stephen, Michael, Lewis, David and Ian.

Names that make one sound unsuccessful: Ryan and Brian for men and Lucy and Lisa for women.

Names that make one sound unlucky: Thomas and John for men and Elizabeth and Helen for women.

Names that make one sound unattractive: Thomas and George for men and Jane and Ann for women