Most Beautiful & Popular Baby Names, According To Science

Choosing a name that sounds pleasant to the ear is definitely something to consider when selecting your baby’s name. While everyone will have different tastes in what names they love, there are specific names thought to be the most beautiful baby names, according to science.

Yes. There’s a science for measuring sounds. It’s called the linguistics theory of iconicity and it’s actually quite interesting if you’re a bit of a word nerd. #guilty.

Anyhoo, the study, conducted by My 1st Years, looked at 400 of the most popular baby names of 2022 (in the UK and USA) and used the linguistics theory of iconicity as well as Adelman et al. (2018)’s study on sound symbolism. They also worked with Dr Bodo Winter, Associate Professor at the University of Birmingham, to measure which names conveyed the most positive emotion when said out loud and therefore are likely to sound most beautiful to the human ear.

According to the study, the most beautiful baby names of 2022 are… drum roll please:

Sophia and Zayn.

Zayn, which means “beauty” and “grace”, is also the name of one of the One Direction boys. Sophia means “wisdom” is currently ranked at #20 among the most popular baby names for girls in Australia. It’s also considered one of the most popular (and prettiest) names in the world with plenty of variations.

Check out the top 25 most beautiful girls’ and boys’ names according to science.

Top 25 beautiful-sounding girls’ names*

Sophia
Zoe
Everly
Rosie
Sophie
Riley
Ivy
Phoebe
Paisley
Violet
Willow
Ellie
Emily
Evelyn
Rose
Eliza
Eva
Elena
Chloe
Nova
Penelope
Lucy
Ruby
Lily
Olivia

In terms of the most beautiful girls’ names, A LOT of them begin with an E including Everly, Ellie, Emily, Evelyn, Eva and Elena. Flowery names also ranked well with Ivy, Rose, Violet and Lily all placing in the top 25.

Another interesting trend is the “ie” or “y” sound ending including Sophie, Rosie, Zoe, Chloe, Ellie, Ruby, Lucy and Lily. The”ly” ending is also quite popular – Everly, Riley, Paisley, and Emily, for example.

*Based on popular names in the UK

Most beautiful-sounding boys’ names*

Zayn
Jesse
Charlie
Matthew
Louie
Julian
William
Freddie
George
Ali
Omar
Isaiah
Arthur
Rowan
Leo
Levi
Joseph
Theo
Harry
Toby
Jude
Isaac
Teddy
Samuel
Miles

For the boys, a lot of the most beautiful names are short and sweet with just three or four letters including Zayn, Ali, Omar, Leo, Levi, Jude, Toby and Theo.

The “ie” ending (or “y”) is also popular among the boys – Louie, Charlie, Jesse, Freddie, Teddy, Toby and Harry. We also see a lot of “royal” names that seem to roll off the tongue nicely – Louie, William, George, Arthur and Harry all made the top 25.

*Based on popular names in the UK

More beautiful baby names

My 1st Years has the full list of the most beautiful-sounding baby names, both in the USA and UK. Below are a few other beautiful baby names that made the top 100 list and that are also popular in Australia:

Girls