What’s in a name? Quite a lot, it seems, if you are internet dating. New research has found those looking for love online should take care what screen name they use to maximise their digital appeal.

Playful and flirtatious names such as “fun2bwith” or “i’msweet” were ranked top by both men and women daters as those they would most like to contact.

Physical descriptors such as “cutie” or “blueeyes” were close behind.

“These names suggest an outgoing or fun nature, or clarify the user’s positive physical appearance,” said Dr Monica Whitty, a lecturer in cyber-psychology at Nottingham Trent University and co-author of the paper.

These types of screen names may go some way to making up for the major drawback with internet dating – not being able to see for sure what people look like.

However she advised female lonely hearts to avoid screen names which attempt to be classy, or show how clever they are.

Males daters said they would be less likely to contact screen names such as “wellread” or “welleducated”, although the study found women were more drawn to names that suggested men were cultured.

“Less flirtatious names may be more appealing to women because they are wary of men who might be using the site to find one-night stands rather than long-term relationships,” Dr Whitty said.

Straightforward or plain names such as “smith24” or “justme” were also considered less appealing.

But bottom of the heap for both men and women came names denoting wealth such as ‘wealthyandwise’, ‘lovemyporsche’ or ‘entrepreneur’.

“This was a very surprising finding. We believe wealthy-sounding names fared poorly because showing off about one’s wealth from the outset might reflect a superficial personality or deceit,” Dr Whitty said. “We know from other research that women are generally attracted by wealth, but it seems they are well aware people embellish themselves online and it makes them suspicious.”

She will present her findings at the British Psychological Society’s annual conference in Dublin today.

Relatively little research has been done into new forms of dating and what helps people find the right relationship. A recent study of speed-dating found people picked exactly them same type of man or woman that they went for when they met people in conventional ways, such as through work or friends.

Dr Whitty said she conducted the research because online dating sites were claiming screen names were significant without any research to back it up.

She said people using new forms of dating could do with some advice.

“With online dating such a huge phenomenon at the moment, users could really benefit from understanding how something as simple as a well-chosen screen name could significantly increase their chance of finding a partner,” said Dr Whitty.

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