When you sign your first name at the end of an informal letter, you use one hand. But when you type it at the end of an e-mail, 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?

There aren't too many one-handed names out there--mostly because A and E are on one side of the keyboard while I, O and U are on the other. But there are a few, for example:


Left Hand (82)
Ace, Ada, Asa, Ava, Babette, Barbara, Barrett, Baxter, Bess, Bette,
Brad, Brett, Cade, Caesar, Cara, Carter, Case, Cass, Cesar, Dara,
Dave, Dax, Debra, Dee, Dessa, Dexter*, Drew, Ed, Edgar, Edward,
Esta, Etta, Eva, Eve, Everett, Evette, Ezra, Freeda, Fred, Fredda, Gage,
Garret, Garrett, Gerard, Grace, Greg, Greta, Grete, Gretta, Rebeca,
Rebecca, Reece, Reed, Reese, Retta, Reva, Rex, Sabra, Sage, Sara,
Steve, Stewart, Tad, Ted, Tara, Tate, Tera, Teresa, Tess, Tessa, Tex,
Trace, Tracee, Vera, Vesta, Vester, Wade, Ward, Wes, Zada, Zara, Zed

Right Hand (32)
Holly, Jill, Jim, Jimmy, Jo, John, Johnny, Joni, Joy, Juli, Julio,
Kim, Kimmy, Kip, Kollin, Lily, Loni, Lonny, Lou, Lyn, Lynn,
Milo, Mimi, Molly, Nikhil, Niki, Nikki, Niko, Phil, Philip, Phillip, Polly


I think it would be rather cool to have a name that could be tapped out on the keyboard with a single hand (the same way it would be written with a pen or a pencil). Having such a name would be even cooler if it could sit beside a one-handed surname, such as Weber or Garza. For instance, names like Edward Weaver, Teresa Gray, Phillip Hill and Lou Pioli can each be touch-typed entirely with one hand.

One-handed baby names might be an especially fun choice for twins -- one twin could have a name from the left side of the keyboard, the other a name from the right side. Possible pairings include Edward & Philip, Grace & Lily and Zara & Milo.


*How funny is it that Dexter -- which comes from Old English but happens to coincide with the Latin word for "right-handed" -- is typed only with the left hand? :)