What's in a name? The difference between being seen as attractive or not (or why Sophies are successful and Helens are unlucky)

But how we are seen by others might actually depend on something rather more tricky to improve - our names.

According to an academic survey, men and women make extensive assumptions about someone's lifestyle and character based simply on their Christian name.

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Sophie: A name fit for a model as Anderton and Dahl prove

Those called Ryan and Sophie are considered particularly attractive, James and Elizabeth are assumed to be successful, and Jack and Lucy are thought to be lucky.

The least attractive are George and Ann, the least successful are Brian and Lisa, and the unluckiest are John and Helen.

The psychologist behind the study, Professor Richard Wiseman of Hertfordshire University, said we might subconsciously associate names with those of the rich and famous.

These might include the models Sophie Dahl and Sophie Anderton or the royals Elizabeth and Andrew.

But the way names sound can also be important.

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"Traditional names with royal associations are viewed as highly successful and intelligent, and so parents hoping for successful offspring might want to avoid more unusual names," Professor Wiseman said.

"Attractive female names tended to be soft-sounding and end with the 'ee' sound, whereas the sexiest male names are short and much harder sounding."

For the experiment, 7,000 volunteers were asked to imagine they were about to meet a group of men and women.

They were then given a list of 20 male and 20 female names and asked to identify who they thought would be the most successful, attractive and lucky.

Professor Wiseman found women were "more judgmental" in how they assessed others based on their name.

"Women share strong opinions about names, whereas men are more even-handed," he said.

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Professor Wiseman has used his findings to analyse several unusual celebrity names. These include Peaches Geldof, which he described as "positive and attractive", and Kal-el, the son of the actor Nicolas Cage, which was "hard-sounding, sexy and attractive".

Professor Wiseman said previous research supports the theory.

In one study, volunteers were shown photos of the same beauty queen but with different names.

Those with the more desirable names were considered more physically attractive.