# Why are these common passwords? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 19, 2009, 8:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-these-common-passwords/490005 "2009-03-19T08:13:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2009, 8:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-these-common-passwords/490005/1 "2009-03-19T08:13:37Z")
So I saw a link to this site: [What's My Pass? » The Top 500 Worst Passwords of All Time](http://www.whatsmypass.com/?p=415) These are supposedly top 500 passwords. Fill me in on the cultural and psychological references. 123456, and variations thereon - well, obviously password - yep, sure pussy - prurient but why not? dragon - umm, what? No. 7 on the list? Why? Same with mustang, master, monkey, shadow, ranger, hunter, trustno1. Why are these so popular? ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2009, 8:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-these-common-passwords/490005/2 "2009-03-19T08:20:43Z")
Because they sound cool. ---
**Author:** ![One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/838e76/32.png) [@One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/One_And_Only_Wanderers)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2009, 9:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-these-common-passwords/490005/3 "2009-03-19T09:05:06Z")
Wasn’t trustno1 Mulder’s password in one episode? I would imagine that was why it is popular. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2009, 9:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-these-common-passwords/490005/4 "2009-03-19T09:56:11Z")
OK I get ‘trustno1’ now :smack: The others: “dragon” is so cool it makes number 7 of (presumably) thousands upon thousands of passwords surveyed? ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2009, 10:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-these-common-passwords/490005/5 "2009-03-19T10:04:27Z")
Hey, what’s cooler than a dragon? ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2009, 10:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-these-common-passwords/490005/6 "2009-03-19T10:25:54Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Hey, what’s cooler than a dragon? Pussy Apparently. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2009, 10:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-these-common-passwords/490005/7 "2009-03-19T10:28:23Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Hey, what’s cooler than a dragon? A dragon with an arrow in it at the bottom of a lake. ---
**Author:** ![Doody\_Pants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/839c29/32.png) [@Doody\_Pants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doody_Pants)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2009, 10:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-these-common-passwords/490005/8 "2009-03-19T10:45:30Z")
Darn it, now I guess I’ll have to stop using dragonpussy1 as my usual password. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2009, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-these-common-passwords/490005/9 "2009-03-19T12:45:27Z")
“dragon - umm, what? No. 7 on the list? Why?” Because there are tons of people who like fantasy out there? And I can’t imagine a string of random characters is going to beat it out. mustang - lots of car fanatics out there master - “master password”, I’m guessing. monkey - haven’t you always wanted a monkey? shadow - probably at the top of a “top 10 pet names” list ranger - no idea hunter - maybe a common pet name ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2009, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-these-common-passwords/490005/10 "2009-03-19T13:02:24Z")
People need to remember their passwords, and often don’t realize how easily they can be guessed. So many are taken from favorite popular culture references (I knew a fundie whose password was “god”) or things they can easily remember. “Joshua,” anyone? ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2009, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-these-common-passwords/490005/11 "2009-03-19T16:24:26Z")
How did they get the list?😕 And, where’s “Swordfish” from the Marx Bros?🆒 ---
**Author:** ![AngelSoft](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/angelsoft/32/440_2.png) [@AngelSoft](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AngelSoft)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2009, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-these-common-passwords/490005/12 "2009-03-19T16:37:01Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > How did they get the list?😕 > > And, where’s “Swordfish” from the Marx Bros?🆒 You know those emails telling you your Myspace/Facebook/BoA/Goatsx account was going to be closed if you didn’t fill in the form right away? That wasn’t a scam. It was just this site doing legitimate research! ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2009, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-these-common-passwords/490005/13 "2009-03-19T16:51:51Z")
Where’s “admin” on that last? Or perhaps they’re not counting the common default passwords. ---
**Author:** ![Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tastes_of_chocolate/32/3232_2.png) [@Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tastes_of_Chocolate)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2009, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-these-common-passwords/490005/14 "2009-03-19T17:46:33Z")
Looking at that list, I wonder if online games are included in the source of passwords/accounts. If yes, that would explain dragon, hunter, ranger and possibly shadow, monkey and master. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2009, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-these-common-passwords/490005/15 "2009-03-19T17:49:19Z")
Hunter and Ranger could be favorite WOW and D&D classes, respectively. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2009, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-these-common-passwords/490005/16 "2009-03-19T18:20:16Z")
> [@One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](#): > > Wasn’t trustno1 Mulder’s password in one episode? I would imagine that was why it is popular. It was his e-mail address in the episode “trust no 1.” ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2009, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-these-common-passwords/490005/17 "2009-03-19T18:32:54Z")
> [@Munch](#): > > monkey - haven’t you always wanted a monkey? Yeah, but not a real monkey, that would be cruel. ---
**Author:** ![Cuckoorex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Cuckoorex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cuckoorex)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2009, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-these-common-passwords/490005/18 "2009-03-19T18:41:26Z")
What? No “V1@GR@”? ---
**Author:** ![chique](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@chique](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chique)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2009, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-these-common-passwords/490005/19 "2009-03-20T01:24:11Z")
My first name shows up on the list, which is…odd. What’s even more interesting is that my default password for signing up to low-priority stuff (newspaper sites, frex) **isn’t** on the list. Who knew that adding a couple of numbers at the end would make it “safe”? ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2009, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-these-common-passwords/490005/20 "2009-03-20T01:34:45Z")
Mine does also. BTW, these are the 500 worst passwords, not the 500 most popular ones, which would be a bit hard to figure out. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-these-common-passwords/490005.md?page=2)