Call Me Bruce

Women in the legal profession with more masculine-sounding names, like Cameron or Kelly, have better odds of becoming judges than women with feminine names, according to a new study by Bentley Coffey and Patrick McLaughlin (gated; abstract here). The study focused on women in South Carolina, but as an ABA Journal article reports, it may support the general theory that women with masculine names have more successful law careers. One of the study’s authors was so convinced by the results that he named his daughter Collins. Paul Caron at the Tax Prof blog and Carolyn Elefant at Legal Blog Watch offer some counterarguments: Sonia Sotomayor, Ruth Ginsburg, Sandra O’Connor, and Mary Ann Cohen, to name a few. [%comments]