Hi. My name is Polly.
I’ve never met another Polly, but data from the Social Security Administration (SSA) estimates around 18,966 people with that name in the United States. So that means people named “Polly” make up about 0.0055% of the U.S. population.
That’s not a lot.
Do you like your first name? I’ve grown to be “okay” with mine. Though for a lot of years, I wanted to change it. I’m not sure to what. But something other than Polly.
So what makes a good name? Well, science has weighed in on this. In fact, science has given us The 50 Most Beautiful Baby Names.
Naming a baby might be one of the biggest decisions new parents ever make.
There is no doubt that this process is emotional, exciting, and occasionally stressful. But in the end, whatever name a parent chooses becomes part of that child’s story forever.
So here is where science steps in. According to a study commissioned by a company called My 1st Years, linguistics can offer clues about which names are the most pleasing to the human ear.
The research was led by Dr Bodo Winter, an associate professor of cognitive linguistics at the University of Birmingham. His team built on earlier studies “analysing the emotional “valence” of word sounds—specifically the phonemes, or distinct sound units, that make up names.”
Apparently, some of these phonemes carry a more positive auditory quality than others.
So with that in mind, you get a list of names that sound beautiful, scientifically speaking. According to the smart guys.
Here are the top results:
Top 50 Boys’ Names
1. Matthew
2. Julian
3. William
4. Isaiah
5. Leo
6. Levi
7. Joseph
8. Theo
9. Isaac
10. Samuel
11. Miles
12. James
13. Elijah
14. Luke
15. Noah
16. Santiago
17. Owen
18. Logan
19. Liam
20. Roman
21. Ryan
22. Cooper
23. Jack
24. Maverick
25. Anthony
26. Ezekiel
27. Carter
28. Benjamin
29. Lucas
30. Henry
31. Jacob
32. Lincoln
33. Mason
34. Nathan
35. Asher
36. Jackson
37. Andrew
38. Cameron
39. Alexander
40. Theodore
41. Adam
42. Gabriel
43. Kingston
44. Daniel
45. David
46. Hunter
47. Dylan
48. Muhammad
49. Sebastian
50. Adrian
Top 50 Girls’ Names
1. Sophia
2. Zoe
3. Everly
4. Sophie
5. Riley
6. Ivy
7. Paisley
8. Willow
9. Ellie
10. Emily
11. Evelyn
12. Eva
13. Elena
14. Chloe
15. Nova
16. Penelope
17. Lucy
18. Lily
19. Olivia
20. Naomi
21. Emma
22. Natalie
23. Sofia
24. Eleanor
25. Violet
26. Bella
27. Luna
28. Ella
29. Victoria
30. Isabella
31. Maya
32. Natalia
33. Amelia
34. Savannah
35. Charlotte
36. Stella
37. Hazel
38. Athena
39. Maria
40. Autumn
41. Kennedy
42. Aurora
43. Alice
44. Aria
45. Harper
46. Serenity
47. Nora
48. Grace
49. Elizabeth
50. Hannah
Polly is not on the list.
Of course, naming a baby isn’t purely a scientific process.
A name still has to feel right. It has to fit our family, our story, and our child’s future.
And sometimes originality wins over everything else.
Don’t even get me started on how people are spelling kids’ names these days. A teacher I know said she had five girls in her class named Elizabeth, all five with different spellings.
It is a bit loopy if you ask me.
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“A name is not a label; it is a story waiting to be told.” — Madeleine Blais
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“The most personal thing about us is often the one thing we didn’t choose.” — Pico Iyer
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“Names are the first gift we receive, and sometimes the first puzzle we must solve.” — Anne Lamott
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