Any parent wanting their children to follow in the path of, say, a certain top Scottish footballer or successful actress and model, could do worse than give their offspring the right name.

While the likes of McFadden and Hurley may put their achievements down to hard work and craft, a study has now found that calling your children James or Elizabeth will make them appear more successful.

Likewise pin-ups such as supermodel Sophie Dahl and actors Ryan O'Neill and Ryan Phillipe have seemingly used their sobriquets to good effect, their first names being most associated with attractiveness, according to the same study.

The results of the Name Experiment, by Professor Richard Wiseman, will be announced today at the opening of the 2008 Edinburgh International Science Festival.

In the online survey, Mr Wiseman asked visitors to a website to imagine that they were about to walk into a room and meet 10 women and 10 men.

They were given a list of male and female first names and asked to identify which they thought were the most successful, attractive and lucky. Two-thirds of the 6686 people taking part in the study were female.

Strong voting trends emerged, with James (13%) and Elizabeth (11.6%) being seen as the most successful, compared to Brian (1.8%) and Lisa (1.8%).

The "luckiest" names were Jack (15.5%), Lucy (12%) and Katie (11.8%), whereas people named Helen (1.57%) and John (2.31%) were seen as far less fortunate.

Attractive female names tended to be soft-sounding and end with the oee' sound, with Sophie winning almost twice as many votes (15.5%) as the next most attractive name, Rachel (8.3%) - and far more than Ann (0.6%).

The sexiest males names are short and much harder sounding, according to Mr Wiseman.

Ryan was the most attractive boy's name, winning 11.6% of the vote, while George (1.3%) and Thomas (1.3%) were deemed the least attractive.

The perceptions mean our names can become self-fulfilling prophesies, according to Mr Wiseman, of Hertfordshire University.

He points out that earlier studies found teachers gave higher marks to children with attractive names and employers were more likely to promote those whose names sound successful.

Mr Wiseman said: "I would actually think twice when choosing names, because these are not trivial effects. They may be enough to give us a small edge.

"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."

Comparing the sexes, Mr Wiseman said: "Women share strong opinions about names, whereas men are more even-handed.

"If our opinions about people are influenced by their first names, then this data suggests that women may be more judgmental than men."

Earlier name studies have suggest that certain monikers could have an influence on our happiness, success and even our lifespan.

An analysis of Californian death certificates has shown that people with positive initials (such as HUG and JOY) live around four years longer than average, whereas those with negative initials (PIG and DIE) die about three years earlier than average.

A study of college students with "undesirable" names found they experienced high levels of social isolation, while people whose surnames happen to have negative connotations (such as "Short", "Little" or "Bent") are especially likely to suffer feelings of inferiority.

Mr Wiseman has employed the results of The Name Experiment to carry out analysis of some of the more unusual celebrity names.

Princess Tiaamii, the daughter of Jordan and Peter Andre, "has both royal associations and the double ee' sound, but is more likely to be associated with good luck than career success" he said. Of another celebrity's child he added: "Kal-el: son of Nicolas Cage is short, hard-sounding and the original name of Superman, making it sexy and attractive."