You and Your Sexy Name -- Do You Have One of the Hottest?

 

Do you think you have a sexy first name? Could it be that your mom and dad were looking far into your future when they gave you such a name. Maybe they were thinking about how attractive to others your name would be, and it would eventually add to your appeal.

"Naming is dreaming," said Laura Wattenberg, founder of BabyName Wizard.com (a popular website among expectant parents) and author. She claims some parents look to the future when they name their child and decide whom they would like the child to be.

So, Wattenberg took five years and asked tens of thousands of visitors to her site to rate names for sexiness. The users could choose any of the roughly 40,0000 names in the site's "Namipedia" and rate it on a scale of 1 to 100.

"We wanted to be able to give our visitors a sense of how the name plays to other people," said Wattenberg. "We all carry around our own images of names based on our own personal experience. It's nice to get a different perspective without, say, running a poll."

(Laura Geggel. “Scarlett and Alessandro Top Sexiest Names List.” Live Science. 

February 24, 2015.)

So, respecting your need to know, here are the top 10 contenders for boys' and girls' names that shared a number of sexy characteristics:

1. Boy name: Alessandro. Girl name: Scarlett.
2. Lorenzo, Nicolette
3. Rhett, Natalia
4. Romeo, Anaïs
5. Mateo, Paulina
6. Dimitri, Alessandra
7. Dane, Chanel
8. Marcelo, Soraya
9. Dante, Adrianna
10. Rémy, Giuliana
    

Wattenberg said that exotic names topped the list. Here are some other “sexy' characteristics of the names that were chosen as sexiest:

• The names have mostly American and English-speaking user base.
• Americans still have the image of a Latin Lover – choosing Italian, Spanish, French, even Russian names.
• The names have “an element of fantasy” – names that are chosen for lingerie brands or for perfumes
• Most of the male names end in “o,” and many of the female names end in “a.”
• Many of the female names have double letters – double letters evidently are sexier.
• Added length may lend a name more elegance.

By the way, the research found that the least sexy names for girls were Gertrude, Bertha, Agnes, Ethel, and Mildred. And, for boys the least sexy were Bob, Ernest, Norman, Dick, and Howard.

Here's a name flash for those trying to choose an online dating screen name. According to new research published in Evidence Based Medicine, choosing a screen name that starts with a letter from the first half of the alphabet might be just as important.

Lead author Khalid S. Khan, associate editor of Evidence Based Medicine. found that having a screen name that starts with a letter from the latter half of the alphabet (N through Z) seriously hurts your chances of finding love online.

Why? Laziness and attention span. Dating sites typically list their search results in alphabetical order. Khan says his study confirms that the later your name appears in the alphabet, the more profiles other singles will scroll through before they get to yours (if they get there at all).

“There is something in human nature that draws us to those at the top of any listing and this phenomenon, though not fully explained, has an impact on online dating,” Khan says. “Perhaps we give higher value to things that appear to be at the top of the pile.”

Khan claims one study published in Economics of Education Revew confirmed that the earlier in the alphabet a student's name comes, the more likely they are to make it into competitive schools.

Another Georgetown study found that people with late-in-the-alphabet names are more likely to be impulse shoppers. Researchers think it's because they spent their childhoods at the back of the line, and they compensate by jumping fast at opportunities – even if they maybe shouldn't take them.

Khan says the name effect even influences what companies thrive – think Amazon and Apple.

(Aleisha Fetters. “Latest WTF Study: Your First Name Affects Your Love Life.” Women's Health. February 17, 2015.)

 

So, employing all of this useful knowledge, I've decided modify my first name Frank for full sexual appeal. I admit I am 65 years-old and way down on the scale of sexiness, but why not follow the Namipedia examples. Using the characteristics above, I have concluded that my new moniker must be Afrancolinno.

And to be save in all of those listing situations, I feel I must employ the first half of the alphabet strategy. Straight to the top for my new name. Make my surname A'Thompisono.

Yep, that's me – the new, improved, sexy me. Just call me Afrancolinno A'Thompisono. Now that has the ring of some long, serious assonance and alliteration. I don't think I have any Italian genes, but I do love pizza, spaghetti, and lasagna.

The Name by Alexander Pushkin

What is my name to you? 'T will die:
a wave that has but rolled to reach
with a lone splash a distant beach;
or in the timbered night a cry ...

'T will leave a lifeless trace among
names on your tablets: the design
of an entangled gravestone line
in an unfathomable tongue.

What is it then? A long-dead past,
lost in the rush of madder dreams,
upon your soul it will not cast
Mnemosyne's pure tender beams.

But if some sorrow comes to you,
utter my name with sighs, and tell
the silence: "Memory is true -
there beats a heart wherein I dwell."