The findings come from a study by the University of Cambridge’s Judge Business School, which looked at nearly 223,000 German workers.

People with surnames such as Kaiser (emperor), Kvnig (king) and F|rst (prince) were more likely to hold managerial positions than those called Koch (cook), Bauer (farmer), and Becker/Bdcker (baker).

‘This phenomenon occurs despite the fact that noble-sounding surnames never indicated that the person actually held a noble title,’ the authors wrote.

It appears that the status associated with a name can ‘spill over to its bearer, influencing the status accorded to that person and consequential life outcomes, such as his or her career advancement.’