Marie Claire UK Marie Claire UK
  • Fashion Fashion
      • Fashion
        • View all Fashion
        • Fashion Trends
        • Shopping
        • Watches and Jewellery
        • Fashion News
  • Beauty Beauty
      • Beauty
        • View all Beauty
        • Fragrance
        • Hair
        • Make Up
        • Skincare
        • Nails
        • Marie Claire Beauty Awards
  • Health Health
      • Health
        • View all Health
        • Fitness
        • Nutrition
        • Female Health
        • Wellbeing
  • Life Life
      • Life
        • View all Life
        • Opinions
        • Travel
        • Sustainability
        • Weddings
        • Money & Work
        • Competitions
  • Culture Culture
      • Culture
        • View all Culture
        • TV and Film
        • Celebrity News
        • Books
        • Royal News
  • Vouchers Vouchers
      • Clothing
        • View all Vouchers
        • Mint Velvet
        • Karen Millen
        • H&M
        • nobody's child
        • ASOS
        • ARKET
        • MANGO
      • Designer Clothing
        • View all Vouchers
        • Reiss
        • THE OUTNET
        • SSENSE
        • Mytheresa
        • Liberty London
        • Selfridges
        • Farfetch
      • Accessories
        • View all Vouchers
        • AllSaints
        • Aspinal of London
        • Charles & Keith
        • River Island
        • FitFlop
        • Kate Spade
        • Vagabond
      • Jewellery
        • View all Vouchers
        • Pandora
        • Abbott Lyon
        • Goldsmiths
        • Beaverbrooks
        • Astrid & Miyu
        • Swarovski
        • Angara Jewellery
      • Beauty
        • View all Vouchers
        • Sephora
        • Cult Beauty
        • Space NK
        • Dyson
        • Clarins
        • Look Fantastic
        • Clinique
      • Activewear
        • View all Vouchers
        • Lululemon
        • Gymshark
        • Sweaty Betty
        • Nike
        • adidas
        • New Balance
        • Helly Hansen
  • NEWSLETTER Signup to our newsletter
  • logoCreated with Sketch.
    Marie Claire Newsletter

    Celebrity news, beauty, fashion advice, and fascinating features, delivered straight to your inbox!


    By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.

    You are now subscribed

    Your newsletter sign-up was successful


    An account already exists for this email address, please log in.
    Trending
    • Women in Sport 2026
    • Marie Claire Masters
    • Autumn Winter 2026
    • Nail Trends 2026
    • Best Investment Bags
    • Best Perfumes
    1. Life
    2. Relationships

    Call your baby one of these twenty names and they’ll be guaranteed success in life... Apparently

    Are you a Jacqueline or a Steven? Success awaits you...

    By Marie Claire
    Published 22 April 2016 In Features

    When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

    successful baby names
    How to soothe your crying baby in 5 seconds
    (Image credit: Rex Features (Shutterstock))
    • Facebook
    • X
    • Pinterest
    Share this article
    Join the conversation
    Follow us
    Add us as a preferred source on Google
    Subscribe to our newsletter

    Are you a Jacqueline or a Steven? Success awaits you...

    ‘What’s in a name?’ a woman called Juliet once asked. Well, quite a lot apparently, enough to make or break you when it comes to whether or not you’re a success in life.

    Albert Mehrabian, professor emeritus of psychology at the University of California has written a book called The Baby Name Report Card: Beneficial and Harmful Baby Names, in which he delved into the best and worst names you can give your child.

    The book looks at how a name is judged depending on other peoples’ perceptions, and then ranks how successful, masculine/feminine, ethical, caring, popular and fun they seemed.

    ... OK, we’re listening...

    You may like
    • Woman organizing documents in cluttered office workspace Why Are Successful Women Staying in Jobs That Make Us Miserable?
    • Emotionally Unavailable Men: Jacob Elordi and Margot Robbie in Wuthering Heights Why Are We Still Glamourising Emotionally Unavailable Men?
    • Two women at the beach, friends spending the day together Trust Me, I'm a Behavioural Scientist—Friendships Are One of the Most Powerful Yet Overlooked Health Tools

    The most successful girls’ names are:

    1. Jacqueline 2. Morgan 3. Elizabeth 4. Katherine 5. Victoria 6. Lauraine 7. Susan 8. Catherine 9. Kate 10. Madeleine

    Meanwhile, the most successful boys’ names are:

    1. Steven 2. Ross 3. Christopher 4. James 5. Robert 6. David 7. Kenneth 8. Parker 9. Thomas 10. Madison

    Marie Claire Newsletter

    Celebrity news, beauty, fashion advice, and fascinating features, delivered straight to your inbox!

    By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.

    Interesting that the tenth place on both the lists are Madeleine and Madison…

    And for every successful name there has to be an unsuccessful counterpart - such is life. So if you live by lists and other peoples’ opinions, you might want to swerve these names.

    These are the least successful girl's names:

    1. Wilma 2. Weeza 3. Virgie 4. Trixie 5. Tina 6. Swoosie 7. Suzee 8. Soosie 9. Sissy 10. Mush

    The motto of the story is you’re allowed to be called Susan, but don’t you dare shorten it. Also – someone find us a Weeza and make her be our friend.

    The least successful boy’s names are as follows:

    1. Rufus 2. Rude 3. Butch 5. Alfie 6. Gary 7. Normee 8. Bud 9. Petie 10. Phonso

    We imagine that Phonso is having too much fun being called Phonso to care that he isn’t a success. Phun Time Phonso, he calls himself - probably.

    Marie Claire
    Social Links Navigation

    The leading destination for fashion, beauty, shopping and finger-on-the-pulse views on the latest issues. Marie Claire's travel content helps you delight in discovering new destinations around the globe, offering a unique – and sometimes unchartered – travel experience. From new hotel openings to the destinations tipped to take over our travel calendars, this iconic name has it covered.

    Read more
    Woman organizing documents in cluttered office workspace
    Money and Work Why Are Successful Women Staying in Jobs That Make Us Miserable?
    Emotionally Unavailable Men: Jacob Elordi and Margot Robbie in Wuthering Heights
    Relationships Why Are We Still Glamourising Emotionally Unavailable Men?
     
     
    Two women at the beach, friends spending the day together
    Wellbeing Trust Me, I'm a Behavioural Scientist—Friendships Are One of the Most Powerful Yet Overlooked Health Tools
    Louise O'Neill started dating at 39 -- here's what she learnt
    Relationships I Started Dating Again at 39. Here Are 21 Things I Learned About Men
     
     
    Latest in Relationships
    Louise O'Neill started dating at 39 -- here's what she learnt
    Relationships I Started Dating Again at 39. Here Are 21 Things I Learned About Men
    Wedding planning
    Relationships I Love My Fiancé, but I Resent the Emotional Labour of Planning Our Wedding
     
     
    Wicker husband: Alexander Skarsgård and Olivia Coleman in the new film Wicker
    Relationships Move Over Regular Men and AI Boyfriends, The “Wicker Husband” Has Arrived
    Emotionally Unavailable Men: Jacob Elordi and Margot Robbie in Wuthering Heights
    Relationships Why Are We Still Glamourising Emotionally Unavailable Men?
     
     
    Latest in Features
    Sienna Miller red jackets white jeans
    Fashion Sienna Miller's Easy Autumn Outfit Highlights How to Wear the Colour of the Season
    Louise O'Neill started dating at 39 -- here's what she learnt
    Relationships I Started Dating Again at 39. Here Are 21 Things I Learned About Men
     
     
    Health writer Ellie-Mae Hammond during her mobility classes
    Fitness I'm Fit, So Was Shocked to Learn My Mobility Was Putting Me at Injury Risk. How I Fixed It in 6 Weeks
    Health freelancer Georgia taking herself on solo creative dates: reading, writing and running
    Wellbeing I'm Happily Married, But I Swear by a Solo Date Every Week For Maintaining My Creativity and Wellbeing
     
     
    logoCreated with Sketch.
    • Site Archive
    • Contact Future's experts
    • Contact us
    • Terms and conditions
    • Advertise with us
    • Privacy policy
    • Cookies policy
    • About us
    Add as a preferred source on Google Add as a preferred source on Google

    Marie Claire UK is part of Future plc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.

    © Future Publishing Limited Quay House, The Ambury, Bath BA1 1UA. All rights reserved. England and Wales company registration number 2008885.