According to esure, the insurance company, drivers' names influence their chances of being involved in a road accident.

Almost a third of men called Lloyd are likely to claim on their car insurance over the course of a year, for example.

But only 12 per cent of drivers called Murray do so. The same pattern emerges among women, with 35 per cent of Natashas making a claim compared with just seven per cent of drivers called Mavis.

The safest names to crop up frequently in insurance claims include, for men, Sam, Leon, Phil and Rob.

And for women, Shelley, Juliet, Natalie and Justine.

The choice of a car's colour also plays a part in its safety record the analysis by esure suggests. The cars with the most claims against them in 2003 were brown, with 22.6 per cent. The cars most unlikely to be involved in a claim were cream, beige and white.

Names of people most likely to claim are:

Men		Women
1 Lloyd		1 Natasha
2 Sam		2 Shelley
3 Leon		3 Juliet
4 Phil		4 Natalie
5 Rob		5 Justine
6 Nathan		6 Tanya
7 Liam		7 Belinda
8 Ben		8 Tara
9 Brett		9 Kate
10 Adam		10 Phillipa

Names of people least likely to claim are:

Men		Women
1 Murray		1 Mavis
2 Royston		2 Susanne
3 Archie		3 Glenys
4 Terrence		4 Vivien
5 Ernest		5 Doris
6 Jim		6 Edith
7 Jeffrey		7 Vivian
8 Norman		8 Betty
9 Owen		9 Rosemary
10 Henry		10 Isobel