A man stands infront of a poster advertising¹ a 007 James Bond movie.
 
What's in a name? William Shakespeare asked in his love tragedy Romeo and Juliet.

Success, luck and attractiveness, a survey by an English psychology² professor suggests more than 400 years later.

People called James or Elizabeth are perceived as likely to be the most successful, while Ryan and Sophie are seen as the most attractive, according to a poll by phychologist Richard Wiseman of the University of Hertfordshire.

Jack³ and Lucy are seen as the luckiest, according to a poll based on asking more than 6,000 people for their perceptions of different names.

At the other end of the scale, Lisa and Brian were seen as the least successful, Helen and John as the least lucky, and Ann and George as the most unattractive.

"Past research has shown that such perceptions can become self-fulfilling prophecies, with teachers giving higher marks to children with attractive names and employers being more likely to promote those who sound successful," said the authors of the poll.

"Attractive female names tended to be soft-sounding and end with the 'ee' sound, whereas the sexiest male names are short and much harder sounding," Wiseman said.

What about his own name? He said he was pleased that Richard rated high among given names, while with the surname Wiseman "I think I was destined⁴ to be an academic."

 
威廉·莎士比亚在他的爱情悲剧《罗密欧与茱丽叶》中问道：一个名字里究竟蕴藏着什么秘密？

四百多年后，一名英国心理学教授开展的一项调查为他找到了答案：名字与成功、运气和吸引力有关。

赫特福郡大学的心理学家理查德•怀斯曼开展的一项民调显示，名叫“詹姆斯”和“伊丽莎白”的人被认为最易获得成功，“赖恩”和“索菲娅”最具吸引力。

该民调共对六千多人对不同名字的看法进行了访问。调查结果显示，“杰克”和“露西”被认为是最幸运的名字。

此外，调查对象认为，名为“丽莎”和“布莱恩”的人最不易获得成功，“海伦”和“约翰”运气最差，“安”和“乔治”最缺乏吸引力。

调查人员称：“此前有研究显示，人们对名字的这种直觉看法有一定的预示力量。老师们倾向于给名字好听的学生打高分；公司老板可能更愿意提拔名字听起来有‘成功’意味的员工。”

怀斯曼说：“有吸引力的女名发音往往较轻柔，多以‘ee’音结尾；而性感的男性名字的音节往往较短、发音硬朗。”

那么怀斯曼自己的名字呢？他说他很高兴“理查德”排在前面，至于他的姓“怀斯曼”，他说“我想我这辈子注定了要搞学术研究。”