Imagine two cartoon characters: one round, the other long and pointy. Which one would you name Bouba, and which one Kiki? And who do you think seems friendlier?
A Fascinating Effect
It might surprise you that most people tend to assign the same names and traits to these shapes. More and more research shows that people often make judgments based solely on how a word or name sounds.
This is basically called the bouba-kiki or maluma-takete effect. Our minds connect certain sounds with shapes.
Across many languages, people tend to link the sounds b, m, l, and o (like in the words bouba and maluma) with round shapes. Meanwhile, the sounds k, t, p, and i, as in the nonsense words kiki and takete, are usually seen as sharp or pointy. These connections likely come from the physical experience of saying and hearing these sounds.
Surprisingly, the bouba-kiki effect also extends to how we imagine the personalities of people we’ve never met.
The Associations Behind Names
David Sidhu, a cognitive psychologist at University College London, and Penny Pexman, a psycholinguist at the University of Calgary, found that people perceive some names like Bob and Molly as round, while others like Kirk and Kate feel sharp.
They observed the same effect in French with a colleague: Benoit was seen as more “round,” while Éric felt “pointy.” In another study, participants metaphorically described people with these names as having either rounded or spiky personalities.
“When we compare very smooth, soft-sounding names like Molly to harsher ones like Kate, the smoother names bring up associations with kindness, gentleness, and conscientiousness. The rougher, sharper-sounding names are thought to belong to more extroverted people,” Sidhu told the BBC.
According to Sidhu, these far-reaching associations may stem from how the sounds feel in our mouths. “For example, the ‘m’ sound feels much smoother than the ‘t.’ This analogy links the smoothness of rounded shapes with the sharpness of pointy ones.” The “t” and “k” sounds feel more energetic, giving off an extroverted, lively vibe.
How This Shapes Our Worldview
Since our brains collect information from every angle, so-called mood-painting words help us navigate the world. Words like prick, poke, and spiky can even signal discomfort to a toddler just learning their native language.
Researchers remind us that while the sound of someone’s name might influence our first impressions, it’s not worth overthinking when choosing a name for your child.
In fact, parents here tend to favor names with softer sounds—for example, in 2022, the most popular boys’ names were Dominik, Oliver, and Levente, while the top girls’ names were Hanna, Lena, and Anna. But there’s no proof that people actually develop personalities matching the vibes their names suggest.
What’s more, researchers say that the images we associate with a name often reveal more about us than the person who carries it.
