When you sign your first name, you use one hand. But when you type it, chances are you need to use both hands — even if your name is a short as Emma, Gus or Ty.
Have you ever wondered which names can be touch-typed on the standard QWERTY keyboard with one hand only? Me too, so I came up with some lists…
Left-handed baby names
- Ace, Ada, Adeva, Aeta, Afra, Aqsa, Ara, Arda, Ardra, Artra, Asa, Astra, Astraea, Astrea, Atef, Ava, Awa, Aza, Azeeza, Azza
- Babette, Barbara, Barrett, Baxter, Bess, Bette, Brad, Brett
- Cade, Caesar, Cara, Carter, Casara, Case, Cass, Cedar, Ceres, Cesar, Cresta
- Dara, Dasza, Dave, Dawes, Dax, Deatra, Debra, Dee, Dessa, Dexter, Drew
- Ece, Ed, Edgar, Edward, Eevee, Efe, Egas, Erva, Esta, Estes, Etta, Eva, Eve, Everard, Everett, Evette, Eze, Ezra
- Fedde, Freeda, Fred, Fredda
- Gage, Garret, Garrett, Gerard, Grace, Greg, Greta, Grete, Gretta
- Rafer, Rava, Rebeca, Rebecca, Reece, Reed, Reese, Retta, Reva, Rever, Rewa, Rex
- Sabra, Sada, Sade, Safaa, Sagar, Sage, Sara, Saras, Sardar, Stassa, Steve, Stewart, Svea, Sverre, Sveva
- Tad, Tage, Taggart, Ted, Tara, Tate, Tera, Teresa, Tess, Tessa, Tex, Trace, Tracee, Trava
- Vada, Varda, Varvara, Vera, Verree, Vesta, Vester
- Wade, Wafa, Ward, Wes
- Xerra, Xerxes
- Zada, Zara, Zed, Zera
How funny is it that Dexter, which comes directly from the Latin word for “right,” is typed with the left hand only?
Right-handed baby names
- Holli, Holly
- Io
- Jill, Ji-Min, Jim, Jimi, Jimmy, Jin, Jo, John, Johnny, Jon, Joni, Joy, Juho, Juli, Julio, Jun, Juni, Juno
- Kiki, Kiko, Kilik, Kim, Kimi, Kimiko, Kimmy, Kimo, Kin, Kip, Kipp, Kippy, Kiyoko, Kiyomi, Kojo, Kollin, Kumiko, Kuuipo, Kyou
- Lili, Lilly, Lilou, Lilikoi, Lily, Lin, Lino, Loki, Loni, Lonny, Lou, Lulu, Lumi, Lyn, Lynn
- Miki, Mikki, Mikko, Milly, Milo, Mimi, Min, Minh, Minokimin, Miyu, Molly, Momoko
- Nik, Nikhil, Niki, Nikki, Niko, Nikol, Nikon, Niilo, Nolon, Nuno
- Olli, Olujimi, Om
- Phil, Philip, Phillip, Philo, Pio, Pliny, Plum, Pol, Polly, Pono, Poppy
- Umiko, Umu
- Yoko, Yuko, Yumi, Yumiko
I realize that QWERTY “handedness” is not a major baby-naming factor for most people, but I do think it would be cute to pair a one-handed name with another one-handed name — maybe a surname (Teresa Garza, Phillip Hill) or a twin name (Edward & John, Grace & Lily, Zara & Milo). What do you think?
Image: Adapted from Apple Macintosh Plus Extended Keyboard by MagicTom13 under CC BY-SA 3.0.
What about Holly for the right hand?
Thanks, Maisie! I think that one might already be up there.
i thought it was fun when learning to type that my name could be done using only one hand… it’s nice to see that i am not the only one who has thought of this enough to make a list! (o: