[Opinions] Sound Symbolism and Names
I saw a tiktok recently about Sound Symbolism, and the Bouba/kiki effect (can read about it here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bouba/kiki_effect ). "The Bouba/kiki effect is a non-arbitrary mental association between certain speech sounds and certain visual shapes."
Basically people associate the made up word "bouba" with a rounded shape and the other made up word "kiki" with a sharp shape.
I thought it would be fun to do name sound-symbol associations. List your favourite names, consider the phonetics/sound of the name and tell what symbol you feel goes with it?
For example, do you agree with these sound symbolism associations?
- Dolores - a bouncing line
- Araminta - spikey shape
- Henry - square (maybe because the 2 syllables feels stable?)
- Bruno - large round shape
More reading:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sound_symbolism
Basically people associate the made up word "bouba" with a rounded shape and the other made up word "kiki" with a sharp shape.
I thought it would be fun to do name sound-symbol associations. List your favourite names, consider the phonetics/sound of the name and tell what symbol you feel goes with it?
For example, do you agree with these sound symbolism associations?
- Dolores - a bouncing line
- Araminta - spikey shape
- Henry - square (maybe because the 2 syllables feels stable?)
- Bruno - large round shape
More reading:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sound_symbolism
Replies
dolores to me soundes like a mix between sharp and soft. the rest I agree with.