REVEALED: The 50 most beautiful baby names backed by science … with Sophia and Matthew top of the list
- Linguistic scientists determined which baby names are the most beautiful sounding in the US and UK
- The researches used a list of the top 100 names, for both genders and regions
- Then they broke each name down by syllable and determined if they evoked emotion when said aloud
- While Sophia is the beautiful sounding in the US, Americans tend to enjoy more names that start with ‘E’
- Names of male royals were found to be the most beautiful sounding in the UK
Choosing the right name for your baby is similar to solving a math problem that results in a different answer each time, but science has taken the guesswork out of the process by determining the most beautiful sounding names in the US and UK.
The most beautiful girl name in both the US and UK is Sophia, while Matthew was number one for the US and Zayn was at the top for the UK regarding a name for a boy.
The US was found to enjoy more names that start with ‘E, while the UK deems male royal names have the best ring to them.
The study, conducted by the University of Birmingham, used phonetics, which studies the sounds, patterns and structures of the human language and scored the names on how much emotion they evoked when saying allowed.
Although the research suggests some baby names sound more beautiful than others, there are other factors that play a role in how nice-sounding a name is, including cultural influences, gender and family history.
Scroll down for full list of names
The most beautiful sounding boy name in the US is Matthew, while Zayn was chosen for the UK. The UK list, however, is shows male royal names have the best ring to them
What new parents will call their bundle of joy is usually the hot topic of discussion toward the end of pregnancy and while you can take tests that recommend what name fits your personality, science has done one better by revealing which ones are music to the ears.
The research was conducted by Dr Bodo Winter who is an associate professor of cognitive linguists at the university.
Winter found that names beginning with the letter ‘E’ were shown to more pleasing to the ears – Ellie, Emily, Evelyn, Eva and Elena ranking in spots nine to thirteen.
And vegetation-inspired names also made the cut: Ivy, Lily, and Violet all placing in the top 25
Matthew, number one, means ‘gift of God’ and Winter said has many positive connotations associated with it when spoken aloud.
Julian, William, Isaiah and Leo completed the top five most beautiful sounding boys’ names in the US.
The most beautiful girl name in both the US and UK is Sophia, but both nations also enjoy the sounds of Ivy, Violet, Ella and Amelia
Across the Atlantic, names of male royals were found to be the most beautiful sounding, with Louie, William and George all ranking in the top ten, in positions four, five and seven respectively.
Harry just misses the top ten, ranking in 17th spot as the most beautiful sounding boys’ name in the UK.
For girls, names ending with an ‘ee’ sound proved popular after Zoe and Rosie took spots two and three, with other top 10 entries including Sophie in fourth, Ivy in fifth,
Winter began this work by building from a 2018 study published by The University of Warwick, which analyzed words, rather than names, to determine which ones spark emotions.
‘Using an exciting piece of sound symbolism research from Adelman et al. (2018) as a starting point, we scored a number of the world’s most popular baby names in order to rank them,’ Winter shared.
‘The names that ranked the most highly, provoked the most positive emotions when spoken out loud and therefore are likely to sound most beautiful to the human ear.’
Using the 2018 research as a blueprint, Winter compiled the top 100 names for both boys and girls in the two regions and translated each one phonetically, which broke each name into syllables, capitalizing the letter sounds that might be emphasized when pronouncing the name.
Add names that could not be translated this way were eliminated from the study.
‘Once we had a list of the 50 most popular baby names for UK boys and girls, and US boys and girls, we then moved onto scoring each name,’ said Winter.
‘Finally, we calculated the sum of each name’s score, using these final figures to rank each list of top 50 names.’
The most beautiful sounding names in the US and UK, according to science
Boy and girl names in the US
1. Matthew / Sophia
2. Julian / Zoe
3. William / Everly
4. Isaiah / Sophie
5. Leo / Riley
6. Levi / Ivy
7. Joseph / Paisley
8. Theo / Willow
9. Isaac / Ellie
10. Samuel / Emily
11. Miles / Evelyn
12. James / Eva
13. Elijah / Elena
14. Luke / Chloe
15. Noah / Nova
16. Santiago / Penelope
17. Owen / Lucy
18. Logan / Lily
19. Liam / Olivia
20. Roman / Naomi
21. Ryan / Emma
22. Cooper / Natalie
23. Jack / Sofia
24. Maverick / Eleanor
25. Anthony / Violet
26. Ezekiel / Bella
27. Carter / Luna
28. Benjamin / Ella
29. Lucas / Victoria
30. Henry Isabella
31. Jacob / Maya
32. Lincoln / Natalia
33. Mason / Amelia
34. Nathan / Savannah
35. Asher / Charlotte
36. Jackson / Stella
37. Andrew / Hazel
38. Cameron / Athena
39. Alexander / Maria
40 Theodore / Autumn
41. Adam / Kennedy
42. Gabriel / Aurora
43. Kingston / Alice
44. Daniel / Aria
45. David/ Harper
46. Hunter / Serenity
47. Dylan / Nora
48. Muhammad / Grace
49. Sebastian / Elizabeth
50. Adrian / Hannah
Boy and girl names in the UK
1. Zayn / Sophia
2. Jesse / Zoe
3. Charlie / Rosie
4. Louie / Sophie
5. William / Ivy
6. Freddie / Phoebe
7. George / Violet
8. Ali Willow
9. Daniel / Hannah
10. Riley / Ellie
11. Omar / Emily
12. Arthur / Evelyn
13. Rowan / Rose
14. Leo / Eliza
15. Joseph / Eva
16. Theo / Chloe
17. Harry / Penelope
18. Noah / Lucy
19. Toby / Ruby
20. Jude / Lily
21. Isaac / Olivia
22. Teddy / Emma
23. Samuel / Eleanor
24. James / Bella
25. Elijah / Luna
26. Luke / Ella
27. Edward / Thea
28. Logan / Nancy
29. Riley / Isabella
30. Max / Maya
31. Liam/ Amber
32. Roman / Daisy
33. Ryan / Amelia
34. Jack / Anna
35. Benjamin / Georgia
36. Lucas / Charlotte
37. Henry / Elizabeth
38. Finn / Maria
39. Jacob / Iris
40. Mason / Aurora
41. Nathan / Jasmine
42. Alex / Alice
43. Alexander / Eden
44. Theodore / Jessica
45. Adam / Aria
46. David / Harper
47. Hunter / Sienna
48. Muhammad / Grace
49. Sebastian / Ada
50. Dylan / Erin
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