Easily Pronounced Names Make People More Likable

Though it might seem impossible, and certainly inadvisable, to judge a person by their name, a new study suggests our brains try anyway.

Studies have already shown that people can partly predict a person’s income and education using only their first name. Childhood is perhaps the richest area for name research: Boys with girls’ names are more likely to be suspended from school. And the less popular a name is, the more likely a child is to be delinquent.

Now a new study suggests that the more pronounceable a person’s name is, the more likely people are to favor them. In fact, researchers suspect that about 1.5 percent of a lawyer’s success seems to rest on the pronounceability of his or her name.

“When we can process a piece of information more easily, when it’s easier to comprehend, we come to like it more,” said psychologist Adam Alter of New York University.