Top baby names linked to billionaire success: study

Most popular baby names of the 2010s

Did your child’s name make the list?

A new study reveals that the name you give your baby may be highly influential in their life and may even boost their success.

Digital content and SEO company FatJoe looked at the top 500 billionaires globally using Bloomberg data and counted the number of times a name appeared on the list. The team also calculated the total net worth and average net worth of people with that name.

The data found that the top baby names were all traditionally male names, reflecting a gender bias still extant in the most successful areas of business today.

Here’s a look at the top baby names linked to success – and many even billionaire status.

Feet of a newborn baby and a hand of the mother (Credit: Ute Grabowsky/Photothek via Getty Images)

John and David rank highest

The names John and David, which are both classic, Biblical names, tied in first position on the chart.

Famous examples include John Reece, the CEO of Ineos; John Fredriksen, the former CEO of Frontline, and British businessman David Reuben.

The names Thomas, Michael, Wang, Mark, Charles, Zhang, Richard and Jim also ranked on the list.

Other notable examples of successful men with these names include Michael Bloomberg, an American politician with a current net worth of $106.2 billion; Jim Walton, the current heir to Walmart’s huge fortune; and Mark Zuckerberg, the co-founder of Facebook.

Lack of female names

While the data did not rank any traditional female names, FatJoe noted that naming conventions can vary significantly across different cultures and contexts.

According to the SEO company, names like "Wang" and "Zhang" are gender-neutral surnames in Chinese culture.

According to Forbes magazine, the top female billionaires in 2023 were Francoise Bettencourt Meyers, Julia Koch, and Alice Walton.

This story was reported from Los Angeles.