Baby Name: Jim

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, Adar, Adeva, Aeta, Afra, Agra, Aqsa, Ara, Arda, Ardra, Artra, Asa, Asees, Astra, Astraea, Astrea, Atef, Ava, Awa, Aza, Azeeza, Azza
• Babette, Barbara, Barrett, Baxter, Bess, Bette, Brad, Brett
• Cade, Caesar, Cara, Carter, Casara, Case, Cass, Castara, Cedar, Ceres, Cesar, Cresta
• Dara, Dart, Dasza, Dave, Dawes, Dax, Deatra, Debra, Dee, Dessa, Devara, Dexter, Drew
• Ece, Ed, Edgar, Edvards, Edward, Eevee, Efe, Egas, Erva, Esta, Estes, Etta, Eva, Evart, Eve, Everard, Everett, Everts, Evette, Ewart, Eze, Ezra
• Faraz, Fedde, Fraser, Frazer, Freeda, Fred, Fredda
• Gage, Garret, Garrett, Gerard, Grace, Greg, Greta, Grete, Gretta
• Rafer, Rasa, Rava, Rebeca, Rebecca, Reece, Reed, Reese, Retta, Reva, Rever, Rewa, Rex
• Sabra, Sada, Sadaf, Sade, Safaa, Sagar, Sage, Sara, Saras, Sardar, Sava, Savva, Sea, Stassa, Steve, Stewart, Svea, Sverre, Sveva
• Tad, Tage, Taggart, Tara, Tate, Ted, Tera, Teresa, Terrea, Tess, Tessa, Tex, Trace, Tracee, Trava
• Vada, Varda, Varvara, Vera, Verree, Vesta, Vester
• Wade, Wafa, Ward, Warre, Wes
• Xara, Xerra, Xerxes
• Zada, Zara, Zed, Zedd, 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

• Hoku, Holli, Holly
• Io, Ioli
• 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, Kuno, Kuuipo, Kyou
• Lili, Lilikoi, Lilio, Lilly, Lilou, 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, Nikunj, Niilo, Ninon, Nipin, Nolon, Nuno
• Olli, Olujimi, Om, Onno
• Phil, Philip, Phillip, Philo, Pio, Pliny, Plum, Pol, Polly, Pono, Poppy
• Umiko, Ummul, Umu, Union
• 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.