"Rose is a rose but Alex does maths"

[cthulhu_dream]

I found this article today about how the name of a child influences whether they will study math or physics. They say that girls with more feminine names are less likely to study math or physics at a higher level. What do people think?http://www.

Comments

[fruit_blender]

I don't know how feminine 'Michelle' is, but I studied Physics in high school and Astronomy for a year in college.

Very interesting though, nonetheless.

[gonewithoutjam]

I'm an Alexandria, which isn't that feminine and so doesn't conflict too wildly with my Mech Eng degree by that theory, but my sister is a Rebecca and she has a Physics degree.

Personally I think you're more likely to study Physics if you like it and are good at it, and that's not something your parents are likely to know when they choose names, but that's just me.

[purpun]

I'm an Anna and doing a physics degree.

[nodyl]

I'm a little confused about how one defines a name for a female as "less feminine". I understand how the names that apply to both genders could be called this, but as for the other I'm not really sure.

Other than that, I'd say the article is solid. Women are still not supposed to like math or physics and for many the desire will be bred out in jr. high/high school. It makes sense to my mind that the more traditionally feminine a woman sees herself, the less likely she would be to do math or physics.

By the way, less likely doesn't mean won't do it so if you have a feminine name and you are doing physics, you are still not proving them wrong. I am hoping they have a large data pool they are drawing from. I'd actually really like to see their numbers.

That being said, I'm an Angela, does anyoone know if that is feminine or not?

[solanpolarn]

I am hoping they have a large data pool they are drawing from. I'd actually really like to see their numbers.
The article says "1000 pairs of sisters", which doesn't sound like large enough a pool to draw that sort of far reaching conclusions from. The largest source of error though, would seem to be in the definition of "feminine" and "less feminine" names, given that "Abigail, Lauren and Ashley" are apparently examples of "less feminine" names. In what way? I find myself asking.

[477150n]

The article said they analyzed the sounds in the names to give them a score of how feminine or masculine they were, but it didn't elaborate. I imagine that the sound "elle" is feminine, for example.

Names in english that end in "a" are almost always girls' names. For instance, I think that "Angela" sounds more feminine than "Angie," but I don't think that "Allison" is more feminine than "Allie." But in Japanese, names that end in "a" are usually boys' names (Akira) and names that end in "o" are usually girls' names (Yasko).

It's interesting that it was a twin study- they used 1000 pairs of twins. I wonder what other confounding factors might account for the difference. I can't think of any off the top of my head. I don't care enough to look up the original study but if you go to the U. of Florida economics website and look up the guy I imagine you could find the real paper he wrote. Or use google scholar.

[nodyl]

I couldn't find it on scholar, which I hadn't heard of, so thanks for pointing it out. I suppose I can just wait for it to be published and then look it up in the journal.

The name thing is further complicated in French for example. Female names end in e, but may be pronounced exactly the same as the masculin counterpart (which will be spelled the same minus the e on the end).

[tayefeth]

A traditionally feminine name is only one aspect of a traditionally feminine upbringing. A Brittany or a Tiffany or a Rose who is dressed in pink frills and treated like a fragile doll from birth through age 15 is less like to be interested in traditionally non-feminine subjects than a girl with the same name who is dressed in sturdy clothes and treated like a competent little person.