Visit our online shop for your left-handed productsWhat is the chance of having a left handed child?
This article was written by Keith Milsom, owner of Anything Left-Handed, in response to lots of questions from Left Handers Club members.
About 10% of the world’s population are left-handed and it seems that left-handedness runs in families, with the handedness of the mother being an important factor. So what are the chances of having a left-handed child?
Various studies have shown that around 10% of the world’s population are naturally left-handed and that this seems to be a fairly consistent figure over a long period of time and in all countries and cultures. The way left-handedness is measured and the fact that many cultures deliberately suppress left-handedness complicate the picture, but left-handedness seems to stay at about that level anyway. More recent studies among children show a higher level, may be increasing.
It also seems to run in families, although no gene for left-handedness has been isolated and it is not possible to predict left-handedness in the same way as, say, eye colour. What we do know is that the more left-handers you have in the family, the more chance of having left-handed children. The probabilities of various left-right parent combinations having a left-handed child vary quite a lot depending on which research you look at.
Dr Chris McManus reported in his book Right Hand, Left Hand on a study he had done based on a review of scientific literature which showed parent handedness for 70,000 children. On average, the chances of two right-handed parents having a left-handed child were around 9% left-handed children, two left-handed parents around 26% and one left and one right-handed parent around 19%.
In The Left-Handers Handbook, Diane Paul repeated this and also noted that Left-handed mothers are more likely to have left-handed children than left-handed fathers. This was based on research done by Stanley Coren for his book The Left Hander Syndrome, where he showed the chances of two right-handed parents having a left-handed child were around 10%, a right-handed mother and left-handed father the same, 10%, left-handed mother and right-handed father 20% and two left-handed parents 35%.
A large survey carried out by Anything Left-Handed showed that only 1.4% of left-handers who responded had two left-handed parent, 24% had one left-handed parent and 75% had two right-handed parents.
Are all these numbers consistent with each other?
If those percentages are true, would the level of left-handedness in the population as a whole stay at a consistent level?
I have produced a model that calculates the mix of handedness in parents and then multiples by the assumed probabilities for each mix having left-handed children to calculate the total number of left-handed children and their percentage of the population. For example, if 10% of the population is left-handed, only 1% of all couples will be made up of two left-handers (like me an my wife, but there is a theory that left-handers attract each other which would distort this, but that is for another article!).
Putting Chris McManus’s percentages into the model shows an increase from 10% to 11.5% in the level of left-handedness in the population in one generation and if that continued for very long left-handers would no longer be in the minority! Stanley Coren’s figures, although quite different, also give an increase in left-handedness to 11.2% and neither of them give a match to the figures from the Anything Left-Handed survey. Most significantly, the number of left-handed children with two left-handed parents is 2.3% for McManus and 3.1% for Coren. To get down to the level of only 1.4% found in the Anything Left-Handed survey, the chances of two left-handed parents having a left-handed child need to be reduced to around 14% – much closer to the other parent mixes.
Juggling the figures to get the best match to all these results, plus also keeping the level of left-handedness stable at around 10%, these probabilities of having a left-handed child seem to fit:
Two right handed parents, 9%
Left handed father, 12%
Left handed mother, 16%
Two left handed parents, 20%
There are many more variables that affect these figures and one study showed that left-handers have less children on average that right handers. This is meant to be a guide rather than a scientific conclusion.
However, whichever set of assumptions you use, some interesting figures come out:
- More than 50% of left-handers do not know of any other left-hander anywhere in their living family.
- Around 75% of left-handers have two right-handed parents and only 2% have two left-handed parents.
- Between 7 and 8 out of 10 children born to two left handed parents will be right handed.
Of course, the chances of having a left-hander in the family increase the more children you have. So there is still hope for right-handed parents – if you have enough children, you may still be lucky enough to have a left-hander!
Chances of having multiple left-handed children
To get the chance of having a number of left- habded cgildren in a rown, just multiply the appropriate probability by itself. This question we recived gives and example:
Q – I have a question about the dynamics of my family. I am left-handed, and my husband is right-handed. We have four children, 3 of whom are left-handed. The jury’s still out on our 4th, as she is only 4 months old. She does have a counter-clockwise hair whorl, which I hear may be correlated with handedness. Anyway, I was curious what the odds are of having 3 children in a row who are left-handed? I can’t seem to find the statistics anywhere, but I know it must not be common.
A – Well, according to my article, the chance of a left handed woman and right handed man having a left handed child is 16% (.16) or about 1 in 6. To get the probablity of having three left handed children in a row you just multiply that by itself, i.e. .16 x .16 x .16 = .004 (0.4% or about 1 in 250). If the fourth child is also left handed that would be a probability of 1 in 1,700.
Keith’s model of left-handedness
This is my Excel sheet used for calculating left-handed probabilities. I must state again that this is only a layman’s analysis – if there are any statisticians out there who can improve on this please let me know.
Click here to download the actual Excel workbook if you would like to play with the numbers yourself
| WHAT IS THE CHANCE OF HAVING A LEFT-HANDED CHILD? | |||||||||
| Starting number of individuals | 1,000,000 | ||||||||
| Starting number of couples | 500,000 | ||||||||
| Assumed starting rate of left-handedness in the population | 10% | ||||||||
| Percentage chances of having a left-handed child for each possible parent combination | |||||||||
Percent of |
% chance |
% of LH |
% of RH |
||||||
all couples |
Number of |
of LH |
Number of |
children |
Number of |
children |
Total |
||
| Father | Mother | with mix |
Couples |
child |
LH children |
with mix |
RH children |
with mix |
Children |
| Left | Left | 1% | 5,000 | 20.0% | 1,000 | 2.0% | 4,000 | 0.9% | 5,000 |
| Left | Right | 9% | 45,000 | 12.0% | 5,400 | 10.8% | 39,600 | 8.8% | 45,000 |
| Right | Left | 9% | 45,000 | 16.0% | 7,200 | 14.4% | 37,800 | 8.4% | 45,000 |
| Right | Right | 81% | 405,000 | 9.0% | 36,450 | 72.8% | 368,550 | 81.9% | 405,000 |
| Total | 100% | 500,000 | 50,050 | 100.0% | 449,950 | 100.0% | 500,000 | ||
| Resulting percentage of left-handed children | 10.0% | ||||||||
| Percentage of all children born to two right-handed parents who are left-handed | 9.0% | ||||||||
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Hi my husband and I are both right handed, but all 4 of our children are leftys so I was curious at what the percentage is of that happening and how common is that ?
Hi, i’m the eldest of 6 kids……my father is right handed (blue eyed), my mother, left handed (brown eyed). Out of the 6 kids, all but one are left handed, including myself. All the left handed kids are brown eyed, the right hander, blue eyed. My own daughter is left handed and brown eyed like myself, her mum is right handed and blue eyed. Just wondering is there any proven gene to the left/brown dominance in our family or is it just a freak of nature, thanking you in advance.
Hi, Both my parents are right handed but me and both of my brothers are left handed
My nameis janara jenkins from Milwaukee,Wi and myself and my ex-husband are both right-handed.
we have three children together and two out of my three are left-handed. Can you tell me is that something rare or is that a common thing with two right-handed parents.I can say this my kids doctor thought that it was odd and when I was pregnant with my third child she ask me to keep and eye out to see if he would be left-handed because shewanted to write an article about it in a medical book. But he is right-handed but she still think it is odd that we have the two-left handers. Can someone let me know?
THANK-YOU
MZ. JANARA JENKINS
I and my husband are both right handed and have no lefties in family . Bit we had 4 left handed children.
How weird is that
Im left handed and both my parents are right-handed, but the thing is,all my brothers are right handed too?? whats wrong with me?
My ex-husband and I are both left handed, and I expected to have at least one lefty child, but all three are right handed. In my birth family, with both parents right-handed, but with a left-handed grandmother, out of five kids, two of us were lefties. So, yeah, it’s kind of a genetic roulette game.
Hi.i am left handed.my husband is right.we have four chldren.one is left handed.although he can use both feet to play football and do somethings right.i am completely dominated by my left.being left handed.footed and eyed
3 Left handed sons! We have 4 sons and all but our 3rd son is left handed. Both my husband and I are right handed ? My two older boys are left handed but right footed but our youngest is left handed and left footed in sports!
my husband and I are both right handed 3 out of 4 of our boys are left handed, The first born, the third born and the 4th born. my mother was ambidextrous , my husbands uncle was a lefty.
My husband is left handed and I am right handed. We have 3 girls who may all be left handed. Still not sure about the youngest. She does like my oldest daughter did for years, and uses both hands often. If I am doing the math correctly, that makes the odds about 1 in 1,000. Is that right? I wonder if that breaks any records. It sure seems rare.
I was wondering the odds of having 4 left handed boys, born to right handed parents.
I have a lefty 12 yr old, a lefty 9 yr old, a lefty 3 yr old and my 6 month old baby favours and has more co-ordination with his left hand.
Starting to think it is unsual
my husband and i are both right handed ,and 3 children, all are left handed, 2 yrs age difference?
I
still remember 2nd grade art projects, 1965 or 6, back in Huntington,
NY public school. 8 kiddies desks pushed together to share crayons,
colored construction paper, that (yummy?) paste and a tray of red or
green handled scissors. I remember trying to operate the green pair(L),
not for a lack of red(R) scissors which I had mastered in kindergarten! I
tried them several clumsy times that year,risking the ridicule of those
mean paste-eating babies at my table, (all (R)s), because I wished I
could be green(L), rare and acknowledged as such. Miss Bell had told us
of her own second grade scissor struggles which happened during or
because of WWII, when all scissors were red(R). It sounded awful enough,
for we all loved her so: but when she further explained that all of the
scissors at that “private” school, St. Joseph’s, were still only
red(R), causing unknown pain and suffering to children we all knew from
the neighborhood and catechism classes, it scared the (R) out of me Miss
Bell didn’t even know she had “Left-Handedness” until she entered
school at age 6. But she got so sick of or from it, she had to stay
home. I guess her Mom also “Had” left handedness,and probably green
scissors.. Miss Bell became a teacher, committed to help each child, (R)
or (L), black or white, catechism classes or hebrew school bus.
We saw spot run, run spot run, stopped eating paste, earned gold stars, then moved on. the next left handed angel I guess was Jimi Hendrix. came down from heaven yesterday then he was gone. Finally in 1988, my perfectly left handed daughter arrived.
Our two and a half decades together have been continuously enhanced by her (L). I don’t get it, but I do love every (L) thing about her mind, abilities, inabilities! Thank you miss bell , i finally get (L).3
ME my wife Dr fareeda and two kids Arsum zulfiqar and uzdain Zulfiqar are left handed
I am a left handed female with one left handed brother and one who is right handed. Both my parents were right handed. My granddaughter is extremely left handed. However, both her parents were right handed. Her grandmother on her father’s side is also a lefty. I believe that one day they are going to discover something which predisposes left or right handedness genetically. Statistics aside, it would be interesting to see if generational lefties are clustered within families.
Both of my parents are righties as well as my siblings. I’m a lefty and so is my boyfriend, and I always wonder if our children would be left handed too?
salma, i found your very specific question threaded down below very thorough article called chances of having a left handed child at ath uk site scroll up or look for that info-packed article. i was blessed with one of each!
I have a question about the dynamics of my family. I am left-handed, and my husband is right-handed. We have four children, 3 of whom are left-handed. The jury’s still out on our 4th, as she is only 4 months old. She does have a counter-clockwise hair whorl, which I hear may be correlated with handedness. Anyway, I was curious what the odds are of having 3 children in a row who are left-handed? I can’t seem to find the statistics anywhere, but I know it must not be common.
Well, according to my article, the chance of a left handed woman and right handed man having a left handed child is 16% (.16) or about 1 in 6. To get the probablity of having three left handed children in a row you just multiply that by itself, i.e. .16 x .16 x .16 = .004 (0.4% or about 1 in 250). If the fourth child is also left handed that would be a probability of 1 in 1,700.
Both my parents are right-handed and also my brother but I am left-handed. I also have 3 cousins that are left-handed and their parents are right-handed. I honestly love being left-handed:):) It was kind of hard to do something’s at school but I learned to live with it and i wouldn’t change it for anything. My husband and my father-in-law joke around with me for being left-handed but hey I’m proud of it!:)
Oh wait I forgot to say that even tho I’m left-handed, I throw a ball with my right and when I would play fight my brother I would hit harder with my right!:)
I, like many of you, have two right handed parents. They had three children including me, and I am the
youngest. I have two older brothers and they are both right handed, but I am left handed and actually
ambidextrous. I find it fascinating that even though both of my parents are right handed and so are my
brothers, I happened to be ambidextrous, my dominant hand being my left. Even though I’m ambidextrous
I rarely ever write with my right hand. Writing with my left is just a habit and I’d rather write with my left
hand anyway, but if my hand gets tired or something, it’s nice to have that level up. I do however find myself
doing household task but mostly sports right handed because it feels more comfortable. Weird right?
Well you know what they say, three’s a charm!
My Mother is l-handed and my Father r-handed, and all three of us children are l-handed. As well as being l-handed I also write ‘hook-handed’, which I believe happens more with males than females. I’d love to know the odds on all children being ‘lefties’.
Both of my parents are right-handed.
I on the other hand am left-handed.
How I’ve learned to cook, eat, and write in annoying spiral notebooks with my left hand without any other “lefty companion” growing up is still impressive to me.
But the most interesting thing is that so many write here of having many siblings, both left-handed and right-handed.
I am an only child.
I find it amazing to be both an only child and left-handed.
What are the odds?
this is really interesting, I could never get my head round the fact that I have a friend who is left handed as is her husband yet all three of their children are right handed!
I’m a leftie and I love it
my dad was a leftie but forced to write with his right, my dad was also adopted so I have no idea who else was left on his side but do know that my maternal grandad was left handed. My husband is right handed, his mum left and dad right. Our eldest is left, the next 2 right and still not sure about our 4th!!
like most of the comments my parents are right handed but im their only child a lefty. My mum have to inform all my class teachers when I was a kid to stop pushing me to do things from right hand. But i like to be a lefty and be different from others.
I am left-handed and my husband is right-handed. We have six children — four of which are left-handed. One is ambidextrous.
My father was left-handed.
I believe that left-handedness is dominant over right-handed, but for years and years left-handed children were made to be right-handed in school. Many suffered speech problems because of it.
My husband and I have 5 children. 3 girls and 2 boys. The 3 girls and I are all left-handed and the 2 boys and my husband are all right-handed.
my dad is left handed
birthday in march same as me
and fair hair well was naturally brown now slightly silver and mine well umm
my mum and brother on the other hand are both right handed
both birthdays in november and both natural dark haired
our family of 4 are spilt right down the middle
My mom’s paternal grandmother was a lefty. My mom is the only lefty out of 9 siblings and my brother and I are the only lefties among our cousins both on my mom and dad’s sides. As far as I know dad’s side has no left-handedness history. My lefty brother also has a lefty daughter but so do both my sister and oldest brother even though they and their spouses are all right-handed. I guess it does run in the family but it’s still a mystery how it gets passed down. Come to think of it, my bro is the only male lefty in the family
Hi,
My husband is right handed, I am left. We have 4 daughters the eldest is right handed the two in the middle are left and the youngest I am afraid to say has turned out right handed. So we have 3 left and 3 right in our household.
I’m proud to be a lefty x
in my family there is only myself and my aunt on my mothers side that are left handed all the rest are right, my aunt could do a lot with her right hand but i am very left handed and can do nothing with my right.
This is all very interesting, here’s my family handedness……
mom: right , her parents both right handed, she has five brothers and one was a lefty
dad: right, his parents both right handed, he had two sisters and both were righties
Siblings:
brother: right and left
brother: right
me: left
sister: right
sister: right
sister: right
sister: right
sister: right
brother: left
sister: right
brother: right
brother: left
sister: right
brother: right
sister: right
sister: right
my husband: supposed to be a lefty, his father discouraged him on a daily basis in different ways to not use his left hand. He is both handed now, his parents were both right handed
our children:
daughter: right
son: right
son: left
My parents were both right handed but my maternal grandmother and one of my paternal grandparents (i can never remember who) were left handed. Of my approx. 23 cousins on my dad’s side, i can only think of 2 who were left handed and they were from the same family. On my mum’s side i have 8 cousins and only one is left handed. I am the only leftie of 3 kids
I am left handed
My mother was born left handed but was forced to write with her right hand in school so now uses her right hand to write
My father is right handed
I have 4 brother who are all right handed, I am the only girl.
I married a left handed person
My son is left handed
My daughter is right handed.
Some facts about my family
I have been married twice, first to a right handed man with whom I had three children, two of whom are left-handed. I then married a left handed man with whom I had one child who, in spite of having two left-handed parents is right handed. My left-handed second husband has three children in total all of whom are right-handed. I have a total of four children two of whom are left=handed – confused – yes!!!
Hi this is fascinating. I am right handed as is my husband. We have three left handed children. We asked round both sides of the family and no one is lefthanded at all. We have had to learn to go things left handed to teach our children. We say they are not only left handed but left brained. You say jump and we would go to the right and they go left. When little we had to change the brakes on their bikes over and make sure we had knives serated on both edges so they can cut their food up. We have had left handed scissors, pencil sharpners and buy left handed pens and pencils.
What are the chances that two right handed parents have two left handed children? happened in my family, me and my sister are both leftys
Both my parents are left handed. I am the only lefty out of four children. They always tease me about it. Especially when I’m writing. lol
My mother and father are right handed, I have 5 brothers, 2 are left handed, 2 are right, and one uses both. I am the only girl and also left handed. My husband, both his parents are right handed. He is the only child out of 7 in his family that is left handed, and we are hoping our child will be left handed too.
Parents are both righties. My brother and I both lefty. 3 other sisters are righty. My son is a lefty. Do not know of any other lefties in my family. I cannot use scissors with my left hand, never did. I do not write with my hand all curled like I see other lefties do. My paper is turned all the way to the side when I write.
All my grandparents right handed and my parents right handed. I have a twin brother who is right handed and I am left handed. My sister is right handed. My husband is left handed and both our children are now left handed!
I am left handed, my parents were/are both right handed, my brother & sister are both left handed, I have 4 children, 3 are right handed and 1 is ambidextrous. I have 4 Aunts & 1 Uncle, 1 Aunt is Ambidextrous, and the rest are right, my grandparents on both sides were right handed, and one of my great grandmothers was ambidextrous. My husband is right handed and no-one in his family left handed, he comes from a family of 8 children, none of the 20 nieces & nephews are left handed. His grandparents are unknown.
Both my husband and myself are right handed. We have 5 children, two boys and three girls. ALL are left-handed!
Enjoyed your Left-Handers Day website. I read with interest some of the statistics. Now here’s one that I think will be of interest: My parents were both right-handed, and as far as I know, so were my grandparents on both sides. I am one of four children born to my parents, 3 of us are left-handed. Neither my niece nor my 6 nephews are left-handed. The odds must be astronomical to have 3 left-handed children out of 4.
My father was right-handed – my mother was left-handed – they had four sons of which three were left-handed and one was right-handed
Everyone in my family and my husbands family are right handed. BOTH or kids A girl aged 8 and a boy aged 4 are lefties. Go figure.
Both of my parents are right handed and I am left handed and my brother is right handed. I know of no one else in my family that is left handed. My grandfather was amadextrious and I guess I sort of am too. I only use my left hand to eat and write. I have a 1 yr old daughter who seems to use her left hand primarily but I suppose she is too young yet to tell which is her dominate hand yet. Her father is right handed so I guess only time will tell which one she is. I’m also pregnant now so I guess we will see if my being left handed will influence either child. I’m hoping for two lefties so I don’t feel so alone LOL.
nan – left handed
mum – right handed
dad – right handed
sister – right handed
me – left handed
brother – right handed
my son – left handed
as far as i’m aware, everyone on my dad’s side of the family are all right handed. and my son’s dad is also right handed. i also think certain other traits get passed down. both me and my son’s dad dislike tomatoes, as does my son.
as for being left handed, i love it. i mostly do everything left handed, though strangely enough, i can’t use left handed scissors in my left hand. i have a pair, but i don’t use them much, and not for cutting out. i use right handed scissors in my left hand.
OK…let’s see. My parents are right handed. With a total of five siblings including myself only my little brother and me are left handed.
Oldest brother and wife righties – 2 children – no lefties
Myself (lefty) my partners (righties) – 2 children – son lefty
Sister and husband righties – 4 children – daughter lefty
Other sister and husband righties – 3 daughters – one lefty
Little brother (lefty) and partner righty – son lefty
Although it is fun to have lots of lefties in the family it does get annoying at times because we know it all and we talk alot.
Thanks for the opportunity to share our similarities and I love the whole left handed thingy…
Both my parents are right handed. But both me and my brother are left handed. Our sister is right handed. I’m not aware of any of my relatives being left handed either. So it’s always been fun for me and my brother. It’s like we are both members of a club in our family in which only the both of us belong. Also, my best friend is left handed. His mother is left handed too. So although I’m surrounded by right handed people, there’s a sort of club like feeling between my brother and me, and between my best friend and me.
im 14 and left handed and so is my 10 year old sister and my little brothr & siter are 8 year old faternal twins and both of them are lefties too! my mum& dad are both right handed but my dads younger brother is a leftie too!
WHATS THE MOST LEFT HANDED SIBLINGS THERES EVER BEEN?!
All of my 5 children are lefties and my husband and myself are both right handed!
both me and my husband are right handed…no lefthanded people in the family and my son writes with his left and he even kicks with his left foot…my other son appears to be right handed,but he is only 1 and a half….not sure where the left handed comes from?
My father is left handed and my mother is right handed. I have 3 sisters and 2 of them are left handed. I don’t see any reason why the genes of the mother would be more important than those of the father, but then again I’m not a scientist
The left handed gene seems to run only through women in my family,
my grandmother was left handed
my mother is left handed
my mums sister (my aunt) is left handed
my aunts daughter (my cousin) is left handed
and i am left handed
however my two brothers are right handed as is my male cousin
do you think this is co-incidence? or do you think this is something that will continue to run through the females of our family. cant wait to see when i have a daughter of my own if she will be a lefty too!
We have 2 children who are adopted. They have different birth families and are from different countries. However, they are both left-handed. My husband and I are both right handed. Ideas?
yes it depends on how old they are but when teaching them to write sit on the opposite side and let them mirror you and what my father did was he just copied what he did in his right hand to his left most stuff there going to learn on there own like i had to but also make sure when writing they hold the pencil pointer and thumb holding the pencil and make sure the pencil is resting on the middle finger dont use to hard of pencils or pens cause that will hurt the hand
My husband and I were both right-handed, our two oldest colleen are left-handed and now our youngest who is two of favoring his left when coloring and scribbling. Each generation on my mother’s side has a lefty. My grandmother, my aunt, my brother and a choi oke of cousins. But all three of our kids? That’s a very strong 9%!
all these comments are interesting, but not really data. There isn’t one comment that says “I’m righty and so is my husband and all our kids!” My question is: I’m lefty and so is my wife, I wonder if this bond helps us stay together? Are 2 lefties less likely to get divorced?
I have three children all left handed just like me. I am also dyslexic as is my daughter. There is no left handedness in my family . My daughter through my first wife is left handed and her mother right handed with no left handedness in her family. I am now with a new partner and two young boys both also left handed and my partner is right handed with no family on her side with left handedness. When I was a child in Ireland the nuns tied my left hand behind my back to prevent the left hand being used to write. It was believed that the left hand was evil Reality now proves the nuns where the evil ones.
James
i was brought up by my catholic great-grandmother; who did the same to me. horrible, isn’t it?
when i was in kindergarten my teacher made me write right handed and would hit me with a ruler if i tried using my left hand
Jesus sat on God’s right hand, or was it His right hand side. So maybe God is left-handed? [I don’t think the nuns could cope with that logic though, just as some said it’s blasphemy yo say Jesus was JEWISH.
My daughter and her husband are both right handed. I’m left handed and their son (my grandson) is left handed. We don’t know about his biological parents as he was adopted. I’m thrilled as finally something from me has showed up in a grandchild!
I am ambidextrous,throw rt handed,write left handed,kick left footed dominant,bat left handed,cut with my left,my brother does everything left.
I thought I might add, to anyone who may be wondering: ambidexterity is not exactly being able to use one hand for one task and the opposite hand for another; if you would focus on one particular task, such as brushing your teeth for example, you would say that either hand would suffice. In other words, ambidexterity implies that you can use both hands for the same task and the success level will still be the same.
Both me and my boyfriend are lefthanded and so far 2 out of our 3 childeren are left handed. The youngest is only 1,5 years old so she is not clearly left of right handed yet. But….she does do things quite a lot with her left hand….
i have 5 kids 3 girls and 2 boys i am myself right handed all the children are left handed how rare is this ang
I have a question. Out of how many kids in the U.S are Left-Handed? I can’t find it anywhere. I know the % but I would like to know out of how many. Ex: 1 out of 15 or whatever it is.
Well if you know the % then it’s easy enough to work out. If it is 10% then that is 1 in 10, as 10 goes into 100 ten times.
Both me and my husband are right handed. Both my kids are left handed. We have NO left handed people in either sides of the families.
My wife and I are both right handed and we have 3 left handed kids. Not sure what the odds are.
It was really interesting reading these comments. I have 6 grown children. My husband and I are right handed and 5 of my 6 children are left handed! My one daughter, the one right handed child, had the same problem at the dinner table as the lefty’s do…as she was the odd man out.. I know of no left handed relatives in our family. Both my husband and I tend to do some things left handed. (he golfs, bowls, shoots, left handed) I found it difficult as a child learning certain sewing techniques until a left handed friend showed me how. But other than those things we are definitely right handed. And no we we’rent changed to right as children.
me and my partner are right handed we have four children 2 boys and 2 girls my girls are right-handed but my oldest boy is left-handed and ive just noticed my 2yr old boy is also left-handed i have a very large family 2 sisters and a brother 15 nieces and nephews, aunties and uncles and cousins no-one else in my family are left-handed what are the chances that my two boys are left-handed.
Myself and my twin brother are left handed. Our older brother and two older sisters and our mum and dad are all right handed. My oldest niece is left handed whilst my youngest niece is right handed. I don’t know about my grandparents and my step grandparents.
What are the mathamatical odds of a Father, Mother , Son & Daughter all being left handed? It is true in my family. ( FYI no problem going to a Restaurant )
I am a mum of a two – boy and girl. I’m right handed, of 2 right handed parents, my all bros are right handed. My boy is for sure left handed and girl is 90% (i say so as she’s still young, 14 m.o.), they come from different fathers – both right handed.
I wonder what are the odds to have to left handed children?
My father is naturally left handed buy had a horrible accident in highschool rendering his left hand useless for a long while. My mom is left handed as well… I’m a lefty and my brother is a righty though I have a feeling that he was naturally left handed (not sure but I want to bug him and tell him he should try a few times writing with his left hand). Anyways… To add to that my fiance is left handed himself which I didn’t even think about that until now, I mean I knew but I never really took that into consideration. Anyways most of my cousins are right handed and most of my family members are right handed. Anyways, I was just looking around to see what the odds are when my fiance and I get married and decide to have kids of them being lefties.
I am the youngest child of five. I had 2 right handed parents and have one brother that is also left handed. (I am also left handed) I married a left handed man and we now have 2 left handed boys.
I have 3 children 2 are left handed and the right handed one plays sports left handed. Their farther and I are both right handed and no other lefties other than my sister is left handed. I had reasearched the imediant family, Aunts, Uncles, Grandparents and cousins (and there is many) no other lefties. What are the odds of that?
My parents are both righthanded and I am a lefty and proud of it. Both brothers are righthanded and it was horrible growing up – no one wanted to sit near me. I finally have a nephew who is left handed and I can sit near hom with no worries.
dont worry being a lefty is cool! we are just special we are often smarter or have more talents than others im the only lefty in my entire family too
I am the product of 2 righthanded parents and I have 2 righthahded brothers. I was horrible growing up becasue no on wanted to sit near me. I finally have someone who is lefthanded and can sit near me at trhe table – my nephew
My mom has a left handed brother but her and the rest of her sibilings are right handed. My mom is one of ten kids. No one on my dad’s side is left handed, but somehow I turned out left handed!!! As far as I know all my cousins on my mom’s side are right handed, and the same on my dad’s side. Me and my uncle are the only weird ones!
I find it interesting in the article is says that lefty’s attract eachother. That is soo true! I have sooo many friends that are left handed!
I find lefty’s notice things that right handed people don’t notice. Like when you see someone on the bus using their cellphone, I usually notice what hand it is in. Or when I see someone writing the first thing I notice is what hand they are using. And when I’m walking with a crowd of people up the stairs at the subway station, it is easy to notice people who are left-footed!
Both my mom and dad are right-handed and me and my big bro is left. and our big sis is right handed
My father is right-handed and my mother is left-handed. Myself and two of my brothers are lefties, with only my eldest brother being right-handed. I have three daughters, my eldest is right-handed & the younger two are both lefties.
I wish I knew the ‘handedness’ of my grandparents, as I think it would be interesting to see how it has passed through the generations.
I think that growing up in a predominantly left-oriented home caused me to feel very natural about it. I only really noticed anything when commented upon by my peers at school or out in the world.
Actually, I’m more ambidexterous, and writing is the only thing I do exclusively left-handed.
So happy to have found this site and all of it’s interesting information!
One of my friends parents are both right handed. They have seven children. Six out of the seven are left handed. I would like to know what are the odds of this occurring?
Thank you, Ali
My wife and I are both right-handed. All 3 of our children are left-handed. Two kids from her previous marriage are right-handed. This seems to suggest that I am somehow responsibl, but NOBODY in my family is left-handed and my left hand is USELESS. I mean I can’t even brush my teeth or eat with a spoon with it.
i have 3 children (2 girls, 1 boy) all are left handed and neither my husband nor myself are leftie! i feel special!
My sister and I are both left-handed. We are the only people in our family who are left-handed. Our parents are both right-handed so i think it came quite a shock to them to find they had two left-handed kids. I play hockey right-handed because it is a right-handed sport but I do struggle a lot and i would feel a lot more confident using my left hand. I eat like a left-hander and so does my father even though he is a right-hander. For me it is a mystery. I just feel very special to be left handed as i was the only person in my class in school to be left-handed. It really does make you feel like you have something that nobody else around you has! from Emily
Could it be that your father is a latent lefty and was dicouraged from this when still very young. This is a very common practise
The way we are taught to eat in Europe using a fork in our left hand to feed ourselves is more logical if you are left-handed, although it is considered the right-handed way. My daughter, brother-in-law and I are all left-handed and eat like this. I was taught to do it that way. as my parents and siblings did. [All rh] My b-i-l and daughter were left to find their own way, and chose fork/left knife/right. Two of my daughters friends who are rh, use cutlery the opposite way.
Bill Bryson the writer is a famous lefty. He found it awkward when growing up, being expected to transfer his fork to his right hand to eat. He became an Anglophile, after moving to England and finding he was in a country where ‘eating left-handed’ was normal.
My both parents are right handed. We are 3 brothers & 2 sisters. Out of 3 , me & my younger brother are left handed. My wife is right handed and we have 2 sons ( twins) , one them is left handed. How in twins children one is right handed & one left handed. ?
reason -one is sensible and good (RH) and the other mixed up good ‘n proper
geggy
i find your comment offensive!!! there is totally nothing bad about left handed people!!!
About 25% of identical twins are mirror image twins, but I’m not sure why!
It’s a theory that sometimes left-handed people had a right-handed “other half” that died in the womb. And with twins…obviously they’re both born.
It is very common in twins. I think it is because they have less freedom of movement in the uterus, than a singleton. I don’t know of any studies that show this, it is just my opinion.
My sister & I are both right handed (are husbands as well). 2 out of my sisters 3 children are left handed (the 2 youngest – boy & girl). I have 1 child (girl) & she is left handed as well. Is any of this connected & what are the odds of this hapening.
I fogot to mention that our father was left handed as well as his half sister & his mother.
I am a left-handed female, which obviously isn’t very common. But here’s something weird: my father is 1 of 14 children. 12 are surviving. 6 are males and 6 are females. 3 males are lefty and 3 females are lefty.
I am a she-leftie also :] My grandfather on my mother’s side is a leftie, as well as one of my cousins. 3 out of about 70 of us (my family) is left handed. I’m the only female left hander in my family in 5 generations.
How about 2 right handed parents having 3 children who are all showing left handed tendencies? Two of them its for certain, and the youngest it’s looking that way.
I find this subject endlessly fascinating. I know my maternal grandmother was left-handed, however, both my parents are right-handed. I am personally delighted to say that it looks as though my little nephew is leaning left when he picks up toys or tries to feed himself, so perhaps I will have a little left handed buddy.
What’s strange about my husband and my’s situation is that he and his two brothers all married women that were left-handed! We’re all dead weight at mealtime at the parents’ home, between the peelers, knives, and the dreaded tin opener. My husband is American and my father-in-law told me he’d better get at least one good ‘southpaw’ baseball pitcher from the three of us daughters-in-laws! (Evidently, they have an advantage!)
I have read all sorts of reasons as to why a person is left-handed, one being that very, very early on in development, we lefties had a twin that was reabsorbed. The thinking behind this is that of mirror twins, where, depending on which way each fetus is facing, one will be left-handed and one will be right-handed.
W.K. Koskei: That’s the very thing that my grandmother’s school did to her! It didn’t work, just as your teacher’s attempts didn’t, although I know some people who do everything left and yet they write with the right.
The men in your husband’s family all have good taste when it comes to wives!
There are advantages for couples who have opposite dominant hands.
1] You both get to lie on the best side of the bed. That is you both have your bedside table and lamp on your best side.
2] When there is DIY to be done, one of you can use a screwdriver for the left of self assembly furniture, and the other the right side.
3] Which ever hand your children favour, they will have a role-model.
My hubby and I are both lefties….he basically writes left handed and that is about it. I play hockey which is a right handed sport of course and seem to do most other sports rh but have no problem switching to my left in tennis or squash if I get tired (much to PE teachers disgust when he tried to grade me in highschool lol). I throw with more distance with my right but far more accurate with my left. I eat with a knife and fork like a rh but with a spoon like a lh…cut with a knife with whatever hands feels comfortable at the time. I use a computer (inclusing mouse) like a rh person but was forced as a child to cut with scissors with my rh and to this day can’t cut straight to save myself. When I write I don’t have the distinctive lh curl which looks so uncomfortable. We have 3 boys…the first 2 are definate righties and my 3rd seems to be showing tendancies to be a leftie finally…but we will see
I just assumed that we would have lefties but they sure showed me.
For the record neither of our parents or siblings are left handed…mum remembers twin cousin/s possibly being but hubby has no recollection of anyone (but honestly that doesn’t mean anthing lol)…
im always better in sports because i can switch hands all the time!!! i can do everything with my left and right hand so i usually speeds up my work
My family is all right handed except for me, my aunt, and some great-cousins.
I am left handed and both my parents and both sets of grand parents, I don’t know about greats thought. As far as I know, only my half brother(Dads side) and possibly my cousin(also Dads side) are left handed. As to the best 10% of population(lefties) being more creative, I’ll provide this info: I am very musical, I play keyboard/piano clarinet and recorder and like to think I can sing, also I am a budding author, so I think we may be more creative. Who knows? Isn’t the left Sideof the brain the creatve side?
“It is said that the first right brain function is controlling the left side of the body. Right brained people generally tend to work more with their left hand and instinctively move their left foot forward first, while walking.”
Right brain dominance: “This brain dominance makes left-handers more likely than right handers to be creative and visual thinkers. This is supported by higher percentages of left-handers than normal in certain jobs and professions – music and the arts, media in general.”
We lefty’s are certainly the creative types! I’m a singer/songwriter/guitarist and in the circle of musicians that I hang out with, most of them are left handed! But out of all the lefties, there is only one guitarist that plays left handed. I’m the only of of the group that wears my watch on my right wrist, although my friend that plays left-handed, is VERY left handed while the rest of us are a bit ambidextrous.
Both my husband and I are right-handed and both our children (one boy and one girl) are left-handed. Now what’s the liklihood of that?
I am totally left handed (LH) but, like many lefties, can do lots of things right handed (RH) if I really want to! All grandparents were RH, all aunts and uncles were RH, all cousins RH, both parents RH and 2 brothers RH. The only LH I know of in the older generations is one of my father’s aunts. Others may have been forced to change of course, as was the custom in previous generations.
One of my 2 brothers has 3 RH sons and the other brother has 2 LH children and 1 RH. He blames me! My husband is RH and doesn’t know of any LHs up his family tree. My eldest child writes RH but plays most sports (tennis, squash, golf, soccer) LH or left footed, although he bowls a cricket ball with his RH. My 2 daughters are RH. I am eagerly awaiting the arrival of my first grandchild in May and hoping he/she will be a Lefty!
My husband and I are both lefties. We have a right handed son and a left handed daughter. Before me the only leftie in my family was my father’s uncle, his Mom’s brother. My Husbands Mom was right handed and his dad was left handed. The first girl is a leftie, Then a rightie girl, then a rightie son and lastly my husband a leftie. All of my cousins are rightie and most of them has at least on leftie child. My right handed sister and her right handed husband have 2 lefties and two righties.
Every time I watch the Gilmore Girls, that girl Paris Geller is also left-handed.
Oh, I forgot to mention that my father does the left thumb over the right upon clasping his hands together and so do I. My mother, older brother and younger brother do the right thumb over the left thumb. My father is really creative. Although we are all right handed people, I suspect being Asian has a lot to do with why we are not left handed. When I inquired my Mother about my hand preference as a child she was offended and defensively stated that “you were always a righted handed person!”. She explained that we were brought up to be well mannered right handed people. My Mother was also a Catholic so that was another cross to bear…left hand of the devil!
im left handed and asian…. being a lefty is a good thing btw
So am I, and I was brought up as a Catholic. [I became an atheist at age 12.]
What an awosmee way to explain thisnow I know everything!
I injured my right shoulder and back when I was about 20 years old. It was so injured that I had to train my left hand to take over most of my right handed task which up until that point was virtually all my task. Doing so made me quite curious about handedness that I read two lengthy books on the left hand so that I could have a better idea of what it is all about in terms of the outward signs of the right brain dominant person. Is you left thumb on top if you clasp your hands together? Is your left arm on top when you cross your arms? Such are the outward displays of some left handedness. Turns out I can play tennis as a left handed person with less precision but greater creativity of shot selection. It is almost like two different people playing when I play as a right handed person as oppose to the left handed person. I’ve been reading the research and it looks like it’s a very good thing to do more activities with the left side as more creativity is released. I’m now 45 years old and I want to be more creative so anything left handed will be good to go do….keep to the LEFT>
My husband is left-handed, our daughter and her husband are right handed, and all her 3 children (2 boys then 1 girl) are all left-handed. We googled this site because we felt it was very rare and we were curious about the odds of it happening. We are please to see that it may be rare but not unheard of.
Does anyone know if left-handedness displays any signs of increased intelligence?
Naturally we feel our grand-children are brilliant but of course we are probably a bit biased.
Am W.k.koskei in Africa (Kenya) and am the only one in my family who is left-handed, in my father’s family tree, there was no one who was left-handed, ,however my mother’s family tree was, and that was my grand mother, and when i was 5yr old my mother took me to my grand maa and she use to discourage me a lot, they use to tie my hand so that i can use my right hand, however it never worked and today am 40yrs with my family and non of my 5 kids is left-handed, i would have loved if i had one!
Am grateful for having got a club of our own!
I am left handed along with my mother and sister. Apart from us, there is no known history of anyone being left handed in the family. My husband is right handed and we are currently expecting our first child, will be interesting to see if shes another lefty.
When I was at college there was 7 of us in a business studies class. All left handed. Weird!
My son is left handed. My twin sister (fraternal) was left handed until, in pre-school, they forced her to be right handed. I am right handed, my husband is right handed. My father’s cousins, who were also twins (identical), one was right handed, one was left handed. My father’s father was left handed. My daughter is right handed, but does have left handed tendencies as she will do certain things with her left hand before thinking about it and switching to her right.
I think its hit or miss, but I knew from the day we brought my son home after birth that he was going to be left handed. He favored that side very strongly when sleeping, always used that hand first for anything.
I’m proud of my lefty. It makes him more unique and special.
Me and my partner are both right handed. We have a set of identical twins, one is right-handed, the other left handed. Our 3rd daughter is also right handed.
Our little ‘lefty’ feels very left out (excuse the pun!) But my grandad and best friend are both left handed so she does have a lefty buddy who are just as special as she is!
I’m intrigued by these stats,
My Dad is right handed, Mum left. my brother, sister and me are all are left handed.
My wife is right handed. both my daughters are left handed
I think we have a super left gene
Hubby and I are left handed. We have 4 left handed & 1 right handed children plus youngest who is also ambi (was lefty at Nursery then started all again using right hand at Juniors but can write equally well with either hand)
I worked for a while at a special needs school and found out that left handed children had been fed right handed by right handed carers (badly) and when others couldn’t cut with left handed scissors it was put down to their being a lefty – turned out the scissors didn’t work. We need a minority group to stand up for leftys I had to work right handed in the Post office for a year until I left! Leftys need rights, or should I say lefts.
P.S wouldn’t be without my lefty tin opener, rehung fridge door and kids squeezy mouse (for computer).
shamepies ’bout te RH brat. what is ambi. in yer dreams mate. LOL
My Mother and Father were both right handed.They had three children.All three daughters are left handed.I am one of the left handed daughters my husband is right handed.We have three children all right handed and four grandchildren all right handed.
My next sister had a right handed husband and only child a daughter is left handed Do not know about grands and greatgrands.My oldest sister and her husband are left handed.Two of their four children are left handed.I do not know about grands and great- grands.
I find it interesting that my two grandsons are NOT left handed – I am, their father is, their mother is and maternal grandfather is left handed. That’s a lot of left handed influence. I know that it’s not supposed to be genetic, so what is it?
I was born to right handed parents, but all the girls in my family (both my 2 sisters) plus my own 2 daughters are total leftys. Having it reconised is fantastic by ‘Anything Left Handed’ because we can buy things that make life easier. Best gadget so far has been the bread knives as we can cut equal thickness slices of bread now instead of mishapen door wedges! Brill!
I think we may be a stastical anomoly – out of 8 cousins, 5 are left handed and 3 right-handed. We parents are 7:1 right to left-handed!
My parents are both right handed, as are both sets of grandparents…the only lefties that I know of in my family are my dad’s sister and her son…and I think my paternal great-great-uncle was left handed too…
And about left handers attracting each other – my boyfriend’s left handed (we’ve been dating for over 2 years but have known each other since we were 4)…and the first friend I made in playschool is left handed (and we’re still in touch now)…
It’s fantastic.My wife is also a leftie so our house is well set up for us..The kettle,the toaster etc..1 of our four children is left handed.Although they all kick a ball right footed and play racket sports right handed..
They do swim left handed though!! LOL..a wee joke for our poor rightie friends,like my RIGHT handed drum sticks!!!
I am left-handed, both of my children are left handed. My husband is right handed.
My parents are right handed.
One connection between three generations is that we are all very creative either through art or music!
My left handed son (age 9) taught himself to play the guitar right handed….and prefers it this way.
I am left handed from 2 right handed parents – I have one daughter who is also left handed and one right handed – my husband is right handed
I do voluntary work with two other ladies and all three of us are left handed !!
I started right handed, and I’ve been that way my whole life but I don’t know what happened this summer but now it’s almost impossible to write with my right hand and I have more controll over my left! I do have attention (never dianossed as add or adhd, sorry for spelling) but I don’t think that that would happen because of it? anyways no one else that I know of in my family is left handed so I feel… different now. A good different.
Annie, all of us are born right-handed, only the greatest among us overcome it. It sounds like you just overcame it later in life than most. Congratulations on your perseverance!
recently I discovered that my baby of one year is lift handed, he became the 3ed lift handed in my family
I’m a left-handed daughter of a left-handed Dad, and a right-handed Mum with a left handed sister. I have three right-handed daughters, which surprised me a bit, as their right-handed father came from a left-handed family. Thought there’d be at least one lefty in the mix. Guess I’ll have to see what happens with the grandkids when and if they arrive.
I have three children and all three kids ( 2boys, 1 girl) are all left handed. I’m right my parents are right and there dad is right. WEIRD!!!!!
My grandfather on my dad’s side was left handed and so am I! No one else in my family is left handed (except my older sisters husband). I hope their 3 wk old baby boy is left-handed.
We’ll so far I’m the only left handed female in my family but there are a few lefties; my grandfather, father & a male cousin and I have to say I like being ‘different’ and being left handed… I always tell people that left handed people are the top 10% of the population
My mom, my sister, and I are all left handed in a family of six. I know that two of my nephews are left handed…seems to be alot in one family.
OK, so does anyone else have three , yes all three of my children are left handed!! What are the odds of that???? And neither my husband nor I are! I know of no one alive on my immediate side of the family that is left handed and my husband, knows of one left handed uncle. We wondered if my kids just imitated their siblings and did what they saw?? Who knows. But there it is. They do do some things right handed. Like we know my eldest plays sports right handed!
Hi Valerie,
I was just speaking with my sister today on this very subject after seeing a picture she sent of her youngest daughter via email. She was coloring, and I noticed she was holding the crayon in her left hand. I couldn’t believe it because her 2 older children are also lefties! This one is 2 1/2, but she has a sister who is 5 and a brother 6 1/2. My sister and her husband are both right handed. I am the only person my sister knows of anywhere in both of their families that is left handed. I have 3 little ones of my own and they are all right handed. She and I were just talking about how rare it must be, and here I googled a little bit and came upon your story. Thanks!
Proud Aunt Stephanie
Hi, I am like you.
My husband and I are right handed. My first son whose father died was right handed.
My other two children are also left handed. Like you, I don’t know anyone in any of the families who are left handed but all 3 of my children are left handed.
I am right, my daughters, all three, are left. My dad is left, my partners mum is left. So it’s in both sides. I think it’s pretty special having three lefties!!
my 7 year old son’s lefthanded, my sister in law and my father in law are also left handed.
My Grandmother was left handed, my Mum is left handed, I’m left handed, my Niece is left handed, and I’m waiting to see what my 2yr old daughter will be, she’s not showing any sign of a dominant side yet. A female pattern in my Family then…
My Grandfather is a lefty the only one in my family until my son came along. I think it’s hit or miss.
I have always told my wife that I am a genius, thank god for your website, now I have it in writing! Unfortunately, she still thinks I’m an idiot. (She is right handed)
in my family, its fairly random – me, my dad, then my youngest male cousin on my mums side and my step grandmother. Is this mostly chance? or something more ‘sinister’ *mwa ha ha ha ha…*
Is lifthandness affect the way of one’s thinking or critiria of appreciating or assess such issues?
Left-handed people tend to be more creative and excel at math, music and the arts!
Must have been a recessive gene in my family. all four grandparents were right handed, my parents, aunts, uncles, cousins, brothers, and great grandparents were all right handed! I am the only living left handed person in my family. I dont know if my great great grandparents were or not, though.
My father was left handed, my mother right handed..
my elder sister and are both left handed…
our 2 younger brothes are both right handed…
Odd ? Pat.
no one of my family is lift handed except Iam Iwas married with lift handed wife and we have a lifthanded chiled