Choosing a baby name is both fulfilling and precarious. With more and more parents are experimenting with unique baby names and "old people" baby names, parents can feel pressure to to come up with the perfect moniker.

Obviously, it's no easy feat picking a baby name. And when it comes to choosing a beautiful-sounding baby name, parents can actually rely on a scientific strategy called the Bouba-Kiki effect.

As author Bill Sullivan, Ph.D., explained in an article for Psychology Today, the Bouba-Kiki effect can help ensure that a name remains appealing throughout a child’s life, simply because it will always be pleasant sounding.

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The term “Bouba-Kiki effect” emerged from a set of experiments in which people were presented with both a round and spikey shape, and asked to link the shapes to either the word “bouba,” or “kiki.” People consistently agreed that the rounded shape was “bouba” and the spiky shape was "kiki." This experiment showed that people inherently make image associations for certain words. Collective synesthesia, if you will.

This concept applies to names as well. Sullivan cited a 2015 study that noted that "bouba," or round, smooth sounding names, like “Bob or Molly,” tend to get associated with "easy-going" personalities. Whereas "kiki" names, like “Kirk and Kate,” tend to sound more abrupt and could be more likely to be seen as “rude.”

In 2022, Bodo Winter, an associate professor in cognitive linguistics at the University of Birmingham, and his team somewhat cemented this theory after asking hundreds of participants to listen to a list of the 100 most popular names in the U.K. and the U.S., and then analyzing emotional reactions.

Choosing a beautiful baby name is easy with the Bouba-Kiki effect.Photo credit: Canva

There was a clear winner: "Sophia," originating in Greece and meaning "wisdom." While one could argue that the list was somewhat limiting, the name spans many cultures, becoming "Sophie" in France and Germany, and even "Safiya" in Muslim communities.

History and symbolism aside, what really makes Sophia pop comes down to the “soft start of ‘s,’ a roundness offered by the ‘o,’ and a smooth ending with the ‘ia,’” Winter said. This combination results in universal pleasantness.

If you’re curious as to whether or not your name is audibly pleasing, below are the 50 most beautiful-sounding names for both boys and girls in the U.S., courtesy of My1stYears.

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1. Matthew, Sophia

2. Julian, Zoe

3. William, Everly

4. Isiah, Sophia

5. Leo, Riley

6. Levi, Ivy

7. Joseph, Paisley

8. Theo, Willow

9. Isaac, Ellie

10. Samuel, Emily

11. Miles, Evelyn

12. James, Eva

13. Elijah, Elena

14. Luke, Chloe,

15. Noah, Nova

Choosing a baby name for a newborn.Photo credit: Canva

16. Santiago, Penelope

17. Owen, Lucy

18. Logan, Lily

19. Liam, Olivia

20. Roman, Naomi

21. Ryan, Emma

22. Cooper, Natalie

23. Jack, Sofia

24. Maverick, Eleanor

25. Anthony, Violet

26. Ezekiel, Bella

27. Carter, Luna

28. Benjamin, Ella

29. Lucas, Victoria

30. Henry, Isabella

Choose a beautiful baby boy name based on the Bouba-Kiki effect.Photo credit: Canva

31. Jacob, Maya

32. Lincoln, Natalia

33. Mason, Amelia

34. Nathan, Savannah

35. Asher, Charlotte

36. Jackson, Stela

37. Andrew, Hazel

38. Cameron, Athena

39. Alexander, Maria

40. Theodore, Autumn

41. Adam, Kennedy

42. Gabriel, Aurora

43. Kingston, Alice

44. Daniel, Aria

45. David, Harper

46. Hunter, Serenity

47. Dylan, Nora

48. Muhammed, Grace

49. Sebastian, Elizabeth

50. Adrian, Hannah

It probably goes without saying that our own personal preferences, among many other factors, might still influence what sounds appeal to us more (I for one prefer spiky names with a little gusto). But using the simple rules of linguistics could be an interesting, and perhaps less daunting, way for parents to choose a name that’s truly timeless.

This article originally appeared last year.

So many of us have the desire to compartmentalize our personality traits into neat little boxes. "Oh, she's such an INFJ. Oh, he's such a Gemini." Some of it is rooted (well sort of) in psychology, such as the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, based loosely on Jungian ideas. Others rely on arguably less scientific data like stars and "rising signs." Humans aren't usually that simple.

That said, there's still value in understanding one's own personality and inclinations. Here's a confession: I've taken countless personality tests because I just couldn't figure out if I was an extrovert or an introvert. Neither description quite fit, and as someone constantly trying to understand what makes me tick, this has been frustrating.

Turns out, there are other options. The term "ambivert" got popularized in the 1930s (after being coined by Edmund S. Conklin in 1923), and it refers to a person "who has features of both an introvert (someone who prefers to spend time alone) and an extrovert (someone who prefers to be with other people) in their personality."

Replying to @Factura🛄 now knowing what an ambivert is, how would you describe yourself? #ambivert #introvert #extrovert #adamgrant #psychology #TEDTalk #worklife

But for those who still don't quite relate, meet the otrovert. Just recently, psychiatrist Rami Kaminski published The Gift of Not Belonging, in which he discusses his coined term to describe a whole new type of personality. In an Insta-reel captioned "What is an Otrovert?" Kaminski mentions the polarization of introverts and extroverts. "When Jung invented the terms extrovert and introvert, he saw them as two fundamental orientations of the personality. I see the otrovert in the same way. A personality trait that faces away from the group."

He continues, "Extroverts and introverts are inherently communal, while the otrovert is an outsider to the group. In itself, it is not a problem or condition, nor is it a diagnostic label. It simply means that while most people learn to develop a sense of belonging to a specific group through social conditioning, otroverts remain social but not communal."

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In writer Sarjna Rai's piece, "Struggle to Fit the Mold? The 'Otrovert' Personality Explains Why" for Business Standard, they write: "Unlike introverts or extroverts, otroverts are not defined by where they draw their social energy. Instead, the concept captures people who constantly feel like outsiders, and tend to look in a different direction altogether, not necessarily aligned with the rest of the group."

While it's impossible to group people into perfect categories, Rai explains that Kaminski claims the main thing that sets otroverts apart is their "reluctance to conform to group norms."

Writer Avery White lists signs one might........

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