Albert Mehrabian, a professor of psychology at the University of California, wrote a book centred around research weighing up the best and worst names you could pick for your offspring.
A baby name was judged ‘good’ or ‘bad’ depending on other people’s perception of a chosen names. The research ranked baby names on how successful, ethical, caring, fun and popular they seemed.
Part of his research entailed looking into the least and most successful baby names, where he found these results…
Is your child’s future going to be full of success?
Most successful boys’ names
-
Madison (From a surname, meaning "son of Maud")
-
Thomas (Greek origin, meaning "twin')
-
Parker (Originally a surname, meaning "keeper of the park")
-
Kenneth (From Scottish Gaelic names meaning "handsome")
-
David (From the Hebrew Dawid meaning "beloved" or "favourite")
-
Robert (Germanic, meaning "famous" or "bright)
-
James ( meaning "heel" or "supplanter")
-
Christopher (meaning "christ" and pherein, meaning "to bear")
-
Ross (Originally a surname, meaning "headland")
-
Steven (Derived from the Greek word stephanos, meaning "crown" or "garland")
Most successful girls’ names
-
Madeline (From Magdalene, meaning "of Magdala")
-
Kate (Short form of Katherine, meaning "pure")
-
Catherine (meaning "pure")
-
Susan (Hebrew origin, meaning "lily")
-
Lauraine (English origin, symbolic of honor and victory")
-
Victoria (From the Latin vincere, meaning "to conquer")
-
Katherine (meaning "pure")
-
Elizabeth (Form of Elisabeth, meaning "God is my oath")
-
Morgan (From the Old Welsh Morcant, meaning "sea" and "circle")
-
Jacqueline (A feminine form of Jacques, meaning "heel" or "supplanter")
The least popular girl’s and boy’s names were, er, quite odd – they included ‘Wilma’, ‘Tina’, ‘Gary’ and ‘Alfie’.
Are you surprised at this?
**Is your name on the list? **
Share this with anyone you know with these names and tag them when you post on social media.
You may also wish to read: Our Complete Guide to picking a baby name