Many variables have been examined in connection with assortative mating; however, one factor that has been overlooked is alliteration, partners whose first names begin with the same letter. It was predicted that the incidence of alliterative matches among married couples would exceed that expected due to chance alone. Combining separate results from nine data sets, the prediction was supported both for given names and nicknames. Supplementary analyses indicated (1) that the findings are not attributable to nonindependence among samples and (2) that many years ago alliteration was a more important factor in assortative mating than it is today.
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