The facial feature that means you're more likely to have a son

By: dailymail Posted On: May 26, 2025 View: 61

By XANTHA LEATHAM, EXECUTIVE SCIENCE EDITOR

Published: 05:44 EDT, 26 May 2025 | Updated: 05:44 EDT, 26 May 2025

You might think that having a boy or a girl is completely up to chance.

But expectant parents might be able to hazard a good guess – depending on what the father’s facial features are like.

Researchers wanted to find out whether certain traits in parents were linked to the sex of their firstborn.

The team, from the University of Michigan, recruited 104 pairs of parents with at least one child.

Both were asked to submit facial photographs which were rated for attractiveness, dominance and masculinity or femininity by university students.

The results show that one certain characteristic was linked to an 83 per cent higher chance of having a son.

And it could explain why the likes of Tom Hardy, Russell Crowe and Jason Statham all had sons as their first child.

So, can you work out what it might be?

Many would argue that actor Tom Hardy has this particular characteristic

His son Louis is his firstborn child - which appears to confirm the study's findings

Russell Crowe (centre), who is best known for his roles in films such as Gladiator, has two sons - Charles Spencer Crowe (left) and Tennyson Crowe (right)

Many would argue that Jason Statham (pictured) has a dominant face. He appears in films such as The Beekeeper and Meg

His firstborn is a boy, called Jack, who he shares with Rosie Huntington-Whitely

Their analysis, published in the journal Adaptive Human Behaviour and Physiology, revealed that fathers whose faces were rated as more dominant were more likely to have a firstborn son.

This result held no matter their level of attractiveness, masculinity or age.

They found that each increase in perceived dominance was linked to an 83 per cent greater chance of having a son.

However, there was no similar effect seen for mothers’ facial dominance.

‘In our sample of romantic couples, we found that fathers with more dominant-looking faces were more likely to have sons for a first-born child,’ study author Benjamin Zubaly told PsyPost.

The team said one theory is that when women have higher testosterone levels around the time of conception – a factor linked to having male children – they may prefer dominant-looking males.

This preference, in turn, could influence the likelihood of having a son.

‘These results suggest that fathers’ facial dominance might influence the likelihood of a couple producing male offspring,’ the team wrote.

Musician Zayn Malik, 32, has arguably a 'less dominant' face - and his firstborn is a girl called Khai who he shares with former girlfriend Gigi Hadid

Keith Urban (left) stood next to his eldest child Sunday (centre) and his second daughter Faith (right)

As part of the study, university students were asked to rate how 'masculine' the faces of participants were (stock image)

‘We propose a plausible mechanism through which maternal personality, hormones, and mate preferences influence the sex of offspring.

‘Relationships between facial cues of dominance and offspring sex warrant further investigation.’

The findings could go some way towards explaining why particular celebrities – who arguably have more ‘dominant’ faces – have sons as their firstborn child.

Tom Hardy’s eldest child is his son Louis, Russell Crowe’s eldest is his son Charles, and Jason Statham’s eldest is his son Jack.

Meanwhile perhaps less ‘dominant-faced’ celebrities, including Zayn Malik and Keith Urban, have firstborn daughters.

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