We've all got different tastes when it comes to names we like the sound of, but did you know there's some actual science behind which names are deemed "beautiful" to hear when spoken out loud?
Linguistics researchers studying iconicity - or "sound symbolism" - have discovered that some words, and therefore some names, sound better to our ears than others, and while these findings aren't universal, they can be used to offer some insight into which baby names evoke the most positive reactions in people.
So which of the UK's most popular baby names are deemed the most beautiful sounding to the human ear - and does yours make the cut?
Baby gift brand My 1st Years has teamed up with Dr Bodo Winter, Associate Professor of Cognitive Linguistics at the University of Birmingham, to use the linguistic theory of iconicity and Adelman et al. (2018)’s study on sound symbolism to find out, and the results may surprise you.
While Noah and Olivia topped the most popular baby names list when it was released last month, neither of those names even make it into the top 10 when looking at how names sound - with the winning spots instead going to Zayn for boys and Sophia for girls.
Zayn is originally an Arabic name meaning 'beauty' and 'grace', while Sophia, which originated in Greece, means 'wisdom'.
In second place for boys was Jesse, which has English and Dutch history and means 'God's gift' or 'King'. It was Greek name Zoe in second for the girls, which means 'life'.
Completing the top three for boys and girls were Charlie and Rosie respectively. Charlie comes from the name Charles, while Rosie is an English name that comes from the name Rose, which has origins in Latin.
The study also revealed that the UK finds names used by members of the Royal Family to be among the most beautiful-sounding for boys, with William and George both appearing in the top 10, as well as Louie, which has the same pronunciation as Prince Louis.
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, Phoebe in sixth, and Ellie in 10th.
The research may come as a surprise to many, as the names featured on the list are starkly different from the most popular baby names of this year - with only one name, George, making it into the top 10 of both lists for the boys.
The girls had slightly more success when looking at both lists, as Ivy and Willow are fifth and 10th respectively on the most popular names of this year, while they landed fifth and eighth on the most beautiful sounding names.
Sophia, which was deemed the most beautiful name, is currently the 12th most popular baby name in the UK, while Zayn, despite being the most beautiful boys' name, doesn't even make the top 100 most popular choices for 2022.
Top 10 most beautiful-sounding baby names of 2022
Boys
- Zayn
- Jesse
- Charlie
- Louie
- William
- Freddie
- George
- Ali
- Daniel
- Riley
Girls
- Sophia
- Zoe
- Rosie
- Sophie
- Ivy
- Phoebe
- Violet
- Willow
- Hannah
- Ellie
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