A new research done by University of Florida economist David Figlio shows that a person's name can have a serious impact on the direction of his or her life. Figlio examined 1,000 pairs of sisters to determine the paths of girls with more and less feminine names. He found that girls with more feminine names, such as Isabella, were 2 times less likely to study math or physics after age 16 than girls with less feminine names, such as Alex. The effect is so strong that parents can set twin daughters off on completely different career paths simply by calling them Isabella and Alex. Based on Figlio's scale, name Isabella has 4.3 times more linguistic "femininity" than name Alex.
I believe the name parents give to their children somewhat reflect parents' expectation, and children will behave toward that expectation.
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Have you read the chapter in Freakonomics that considered names? Their blog is also worth a look. (See here)
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