What's in a name? William Shakespeare asked in his love tragedy Romeo and Juliet.

Success, luck and attractiveness, a survey by an English psychology professor suggests more than 400 years later.

People called James or Elizabeth are perceived as likely to be the most successful, while Ryan and Sophie are seen as the most attractive, according to a poll by phychologist Richard Wiseman of the University of Hertfordshire.

Jack and Lucy are seen as the luckiest, according to a poll based on asking more than 6,000 people for their perceptions of different names.

At the other end of the scale, Lisa and Brian were seen as the least successful, Helen and John as the least lucky, and Ann and George as the most unattractive.

"Past research has shown that such perceptions can become self-fulfilling prophecies, with teachers giving higher marks to children with attractive names and employers being more likely to promote those who sound successful," said the authors of the poll.

"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," Wiseman said.

What about his own name? He said he was pleased that Richard rated high among given names, while with the surname Wiseman "I think I was destined to be an academic."