New Survey Finds the Sexiest, Smartest & Friendliest Names

NEW YORK, Mar. 24, 2015 /PRNewswire-iReach/ -- Can a name be sexy, friendly, smart, sophisticated or creative on its own, without a person attached? For the past five years, tens of thousands of BabyNameWizard.com visitors have rated the names in the "Namipedia" database on how smart, sexy, creative, sophisticated and friendly they sound.  Today, parent company CafeMom announced the results.

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"We all carry around our own images of names based on our own personal experience," said Laura Wattenberg, Co-Founder of BabyNameWizard.com.  "Naming is dreaming.  It's the part of preparing for parenthood where you're looking not just to six months in the future, but six years or 60 years in the future, and who you want your child to be."

With 1.5 million sets of ratings submitted, the results paint an unprecedented picture of the way we view names:

Sexiest NamesRomance languages, especially Italian and French, dominate the sexiest name lists. Additionally, more than half of the names on the sexy lists end in the classic gender markers -o and -a. Doubled letters also seem to add to a name's sexiness.

Boys:

1. Alessandro
2. Lorenzo
3. Rhett
4. Romeo
5. Mateo

Girls:

1. Scarlett
2. Nicolette
3. Natalia
4. Anais
5. Paulina

Smartest Names

For the smartest boys' names, names like Atticus and Solomon are historically linked to wisdom and genius. Surnames like Preston and Truman project a gravitas that suggests intelligence.

Meanwhile, the smartest girls' names lack a strong pattern.

Boys:

1. Atticus
2. Solomon
3. Truman
4. Preston
5. Edmund

Girls:

1. Katharine
2. Zainab
3. Maritza
4. Emerson
5. Athena

Friendliest Names

The friendliest name list is full of contemporary creations, including many nicknames. The average name on the list is just five letters and two syllables. The -y ending is the English fond diminutive, the way we indicate affection. That ending dominates the lists for both boys and girls.

Boys:

1. Kelly
2. Archie
3. Jerry
4. Ricky
5. Cory

Girls:

1. Rylee
2. Kaley
3. Carly
4. Kiley
5. Kelsie

Most Sophisticated Names

Every name on the ultra-sophisticated list was in its most formal form, while several nicknames, including America's #1 nickname Mike, were rated at the bottom. The names rated most sophisticated also tended to be long, averaging almost 8 letters, while the average American baby name is 6 letters long.

Boys:

1. Kingsley
2. Dorian
3. Edmund
4. Atticus
5. Edward

Girls:

1. Katharine
2. Lavinia
3. Jacquelyn
4. Evangeline
5. Gwyneth

Most Creative Names

Music-inspired names make a strong showing in the most creative names.  For boys' names that comes in the form of specific well-known music artists (Lennon, Hendrix and Arlo), while girls' names more abstractly convey a musical quality (Jazlyn and Calliope).

Boys:

1. Lennon
2. Hendrix
3. Leighton
4. Arlo
5. Phineas

Girls:

1. Alora
2. Coraline
3. Jazlyn
4. Linnea
5. Calliope

See more on the sexiest, friendliest, smartest and most sophisticated names at BabyNameWizard.com.

Methodology Notes: Ratings were submitted by tens of thousands of BabyNameWizard.com visitors over the course of five years, rating names they chose to visit on a scale of 1-100. Rankings are based on names rated by a minimum of 150 users. Alternate spellings may be dropped from lists to avoid repetition. Rare names (outside the current top 1,500 for boys and girls and no appearances in the top 500 in the past century) are excluded.

About CafeMom:

CafeMom is the leading digital media company for moms, dedicated to improving moms' lives by helping them make better decisions, form genuine connections, and take a deserved break. CafeMom's family of properties reaches more than 30MM UVs / month, and includes CafeMom.com, MamásLatinas.com, TheStir.com, and BabyNameWizard.com. CafeMom is the leader in developing custom programs for top brands, making it the premier strategic marketing partner to brands that want to win with moms. CafeMom lead investors are Highland Capital Partners and Draper Fisher Jurvetson. The company was founded by Andrew Shue and Michael Sanchez.

About BabyNameWizard.com and NameCandy.com

BabyNameWizard.com was founded in 2008 with the goal of creating the most robust, comprehensive and engaging tools and advice for baby name research anywhere. In 2009, TIME Magazine included BabyNameWizard.com on its list of "50 Best Websites," and in 2010, the National Library Association cited BabyNameWizard.com as one of the best free reference sources on the Web. The pair also created NameCandy.com, online home of the advice column "Ask the Name Lady," as well as daily news and gossip about names in popular culture.

Media Contact: Kristina Tipton, CafeMom, 646-435-6586, [email protected]

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SOURCE CafeMom