The post explores how likely it is for a left-handed parent to have a left-handed child, and vice versa. It turns out that both scenarios are surprisingly uncommon.

Mary McCartney, like her slightly better known Beatles-father Paul, prefers to write with her left-hand. Noticing this joint hand preference of parent and child, it is arguably tempting to conclude that the trait has been passed down the McCartney family tree. And, it appears rather likely that Mary quite often heard the phrase “You must have ‘it’ from your father” whenever her left-handedness became a topic, whether at home or elsewhere.

It is difficult, if not impossible, to evaluate whether this conclusion is specifically justified in the case to the McCartneys. However, examining left-handers as a group there is some evidence to the general notion that left-handers get more left-handed children.

A large-scale study including more than 72,000 children and their parents [1] found that two right-handed parents raise a left-handed child in about 9 out of 100 cases, while the number is roughly doubled to 19 out of 100, when one of the parents is a left-hander. In the rather rare case that both parents are left-handers, the odds are further increased to 26 out of 100 cases. These numbers clearly show that parental left-handedness increases the likelihood that the offspring will also be a left-hander.

Yet, an increased likelihood does not mean that left-handed parents necessarily get a left-handed child. No matter whether the family consists of one or two left-handed parents, the odds of having a right-handed child are still substantially higher than those of having a left-handed one: A right-handed child is three to four times more likely, to be precise.

We can also see these odds exemplified in the McCartney family. Mary has two full siblings, Stella and James, who both turned out to be right-handers, despite of having the same left-handed father, Paul, and right-handed mother, Linda [2]. So, two of three McCartney children did not inherit “it” from their father.

The above numbers can even be used to estimate that most left-handed parents do not have a single left-handed child [3]. Considering the most common scenario with one left-handed parent, the likelihood of having at least one left-handed child exceeds 50% only if the couple has four or more children. For European, American, or Asian mixed-handedness couples, with an expected average of below two children per family [4], the chance is accordingly lower. Only one in three of these couples should, statistically, have a left-handed child.

These stats do also allow to answer the reversed question, so, whether a left-handed child is likely to have a left-handed parent [5]. While fully right-handed couples have a comparatively low likelihood of raising left-handers, they are also significantly more common than mixed- or fully-left handed couples. As a result by far most – or, roughly two out of three left-handers – are actually born to fully right-handed couples. Left-handers with left-hand parents are in the minority.

We have seen that parental handedness clearly matters. There is no scientific doubt that left-handedness runs in families and that a genetic disposition contributes to the inheritance of the trait [6]. But we also have to acknowledge that the effects of the inherited handedness “genes” are rather weak, leaving room for variations in how the trait unfolds during a child’s development.

As a result, and somewhat counter-intuitively, left-handed parents have mostly right-handed children, and left-handed children have mostly right-handed parents. And when it comes to handedness – as likely in many other respects – the McCartney family is not prototypical. A left-handed parent with a left-handed child is much rarer then one might intuitively predict.

[1] see Table 1a in McManus, I.C. & Bryden, M.P. (1992). The genetics of handedness, cerebral dominance, and lateralization. In: Boller, F., Grafman, J., editors. Handbook of Neuropsychology, Vol. 6 (pp. 115-143). Amsterdam: Elsevier.

[2] A quick online search reveals photos and videos of Stella and James McCartney using their hands in various situations. For example, James plays the guitar right-handed and signs autographs with his right hand, while Stella sketches her designs with a pen in her right hand. The same applies to their late mother Linda, who used to sign her photographs with her right hand.

[3] Using the estimates from McManus & Bryden (1992, see [1]) the probability for a mixed-handed couple to have a right-handed child is 0.81. For a sequence of n birth, it can be calculated as 0.81ⁿ, so for the second child (n=2) it is 0.81*0.81 = 0.66, for n=3 it is 0.53, and for n=4 it is 0.43, and so on. That is, from the 4^th child onward the likelihood is below 50% that all children are right-handed, and it exceeds 50% for that at least one of the children is left-handed. So, only if all existing couples would have four or more children, we could reasonably expect that the majority of these couples had at least one left-handed child. For two right-handed parents this threshold is reached at n=8, assuming a base probability of 0.91 that a child is right-handed. For two left-handed parents, this threshold is already reached as n=3 (base: 0.74), these couples are, however, quite rare (ca. 1%; see [5]).

[4] see e.g. fertility rate data rates at gapiminder: https://www.gapminder.org/tools

[5] Assuming that about 11% of humans are right-handers, one may estimate that about 79% of all couples are made up of two right-handers (0.89 * 0.89 = 0.79), while about 20% include one left-hander (either the man or the women, so 0.11 * 0.89 + 0.89 * 0.11 = 0.196), and only 1% consistent of two left handers (0.11 * 0.11 = 0.012). Further assuming identical fertility of all couples and using the estimates from [1] one can do the following thought experiment: of 1000 children 790 (or 79%) are born to two right-handed parents of which 71 (9%) would turn out to be left-handers; 196 have one left-handed parent, giving rise to about 37 (19%) left handers among them; and 12 have two left-handed parents giving rise to 3 (26%) left-handers. So, of 111 left-handers of the offspring generation about 71, or 64%, do not have any left-handed parent. A good majority of the left-handers has only right-handed parents.

[6] see review by Paracchini, S. (2021). Recent advances in handedness genetics. Symmetry, 13(10), 1792; https://doi.org/10.3390/sym13101792

The post Like Father, Like Daughter? The Odds of Having a Left-Handed Child first appeared on René Westerhausen.

The tactical demand for left‑footed players should, in theory, lead to a higher proportion of left-handed footballers at the FIFA World Cup 2026 – yet, left-handers are surprisingly scarce among the left-footed players.

The football World Cup is upon us again, and I have to admit that I have a mild football fever these days. I like to watch the occasional match, and the other night, while waiting for the match between France and Senegal to kick off, I found myself scrolling through some random clips of the French national team. What I saw was not really surprising. Just the typical “football stuff”. Players sprinting, kicking, shooting, celebrating, followed by taking selfies with fans or trophies.

Then, I came across a scene featuring Ousmane Dembélé, the central forward of L’équipe tricolore. In the clip, one could see the football star sitting at some gala event, wearing a fine suite, while a football jersey bearing his name was nicely draped on a table in front of him. He was supposed to sign it and so he took hold of a felt‑pen with his his left-hand and graced the jersey with his autograph.

That Ousmane Dembélé prefers to write with his left hand is not remarkable in itself. With around 12% of men being left‑handed [1], any starting line-up of eleven players – at the World Cup or anywhere else – should statistically include about one left‑handed player. And in a sport that mainly revolves around kicking a ball with one’s feet, a player’s handedness should anyway be largely irrelevant, right?

Yet, when I tried to find pictures of the other players of the French squad signing jerseys, fans, or contracts, I came across a curious accumulation of left-handers. Besides Dembélé, also Kylian Mbappé, Adrien Rabiot, Lucas Hernandez, Lucas Digne, Rayan Cherki, and the goalkeeper Brice Samba apparently prefer to use their left hand, suggesting that 7 out of the 26 strong squad – so, roughly 27% – are likely left-handers, more than doubling the expected value of 12%.

With such a small sample, it could easily be a coincidence – and maybe that is where I should have left it. But this finding stuck with me, and I even came up with a little hypothesis concerning the reason for this accumulation of left-handers.

Handedness is strongly associated with “footedness”, in that left‑handers are more likely to prefer their left foot while the vast majority of right‑handers favour their right [2]. To add some numbers: it can be estimated that roughly 60% of all left‑footed individuals should be left‑handed [3]. So, should there be any tactical demand for recruiting more left-footed players, this should – as a side effect – also increase the number of left-handers in a squad.

With which foot a player prefers to “handle” the ball is obviously very relevant in football. It affects the footballer’s playing style, the angles of the passes and shots, or the preferred movement patterns on the pitch. It also may determine the player’s positioning. Left-footed players preferably occupy positions on the left-side of the pitch, and team managers actively search for left-footed players to fill out these positions. If you pay close attention at the World Cup matches, you will find that virtually all left-backs – so those playing on the left side of the defence line viewed from the goalkeeper – are left-footed players. In case of the French squad these are, for example, Lucas Hernandez and Lucas Digne; two of the left-handers mentioned earlier.

Ousmane Dembélé’s footedness is, by the way, a bit more complicated. In a rather remarkable interview early in his career, Dembélé was asked about his preferred foot. His answer was that he was left-footed. Apparently not entirely satisfied with this answer, the journalist inquired why he then shoots penalties with his right foot – as he indeed does as can be seen in the featured image above. Dembélé replied: “Because I shoot better with my right foot.” Maybe this is also the reason why the webpages tracking the careers of professional footballers, such as transfermarkt.com, inform us that he is “both” footed. Or, should we just take his word for it and classify him as left-footed?

In any case, left- and both-footedness is far less common in the general population than right-footedness. Estimates suggests that only about 15 to 20% of men fall into this category [2]. When it comes to football, however, this percentage is nowhere near sufficient. Given the tactical systems most teams employ today, squads typically need three to four capable left‑footed players – around 27% to 36% of the starting line-up – to adequately cover all positions on the left side of the pitch. So, there seems to be a mismatch between the demand for left-footed footballers and the supply of naturally left-footed individuals. As a result, left‑footed players are well sought after, and there are indications for a selection bias in their favour already in young ages [4].

Also at this year’s world cup, the proportion of left‑footed players exceeds what one would expect based on the general population. A quick scan of the full squads of the top-ten teams of the FIFA‑World ranking, finds that 80 left- or both-footed footballers in the total 260 nominated players, so roughly 31 percent [5]. As can be seen in the Figure below, Brazil (11 of 26, or 42%) and Argentina (10 of 26, or 38%) are topping this unofficial left-footedness ranking, but all but two teams show a comparatively high incidence of left-footedness. Only in the English (19%) and the Dutch squad (15%) the proportion of left-footed players is in the “normal”, that is, the expected range.

Coming back to my earlier hypothesis, the question is whether this high rate of left-footed players also results in an increase in left-handers? The answer is: apparently not! I was able to track down pictures or clips showing 255 of the 260 players of the ten top-teams while writing, and 30 of them were doing so with the left hand – notably including the better known stars Kevin De Bruyne, Joshua Kimmich, Alejandro Grimaldo, or Jordan Pickford [6]. However, this only made for 11.8% of all players, which is arguably very close to the expected 12% left-handers among men. So, no excessive amount of left-handed footballers at the World Cup!

Before wrapping up this excursion into the world of football, I could not resist taking another look at the relationship between handedness and footedness – and, to my surprise, left-handers were astonishingly rare among the left‑footed players. As the graph above shows, both Brazil and Argentina field sizeable groups of left‑footed players, yet each squad includes only a single left-hander. Even more striking, none of the nine left‑footed players on Belgium’s team appears to be left‑handed. Added up across all ten teams, 22 out of the 80 left- or both-footed players (28%) were left-handers: just about half of the 60% percent that could be reasonably expected [3].

It is difficult to say what might have caused this lack of left-handers among the left-footed players. The general need for left-footed players could have forced some right-footed right-handers at young age to practise their left foot to be able to occupy the positions on the left side of the pitch, so that they today appear left-footed. Conversely, many of the left‑footed right‑handers could be natural left‑handers who were retrained to write with their right hand at home or in school. However, the practise of retraining has luckily gone out of fashion in most countries and should not really have affected this generation of players which is born – or at least mostly raised – in the 21st century.

It seems the French squad – including Ousmane Dembélé – is just an outlier when it comes to left‑handed footballers, and my intuitive hypothesis turned out to be one of these misguided attempts of making sense of insufficient data. Among the top‑teams, there are indeed more left‑ or both‑footed players than expected, but this does not translate into a noticeable increase in left‑handedness at the FIFA World Cup 2026.

[1] The incidence of left-handedness is about 2% higher in men compared with women, so roughly 12%; see Papadatou-Pastou, M. et al. (2020). Human handedness: A meta-analysis. Psychol. Bulletin, 146, 481-524. https://doi.org/10.1037/bul0000229

[2] Packheiser, J., Schmitz, J., Berretz, G., Carey, D. P., Paracchini, S., Papadatou-Pastou, M., & Ocklenburg, S. (2020). Four meta-analyses across 164 studies on atypical footedness prevalence and its relation to handedness. Scientific Reports, 10, 14501. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-71478-w

[3] Even when factoring in that right‑handers outnumber left‑handers nine to one, the pattern still suggests that left‑footed individuals should, in principle, be left‑handed more often than right‑handed. According to the data from [2] of 100 men, about 12 should be left-handers of which 66% should be left-footed, so about 8 individuals. Of the 88 right-handers, 6% should be left-footed, so, roughly 5. Left-handed left-footers should outnumber right-handed left-footers 8 to 5 – in percentage, about 60% of all left-footed individuals should also be left-handers

[4] Verbeek, J., Elferink-Gemser, M. T., Jonker, L., Huijgen, B. C., & Visscher, C. (2017). Laterality related to the successive selection of Dutch national youth soccer players. Journal of Sports Sciences, 35(22), 2220-2224. https://doi.org/10.1080/02640414.2016.1262544

[5] I extracted the data from transfermarkt.com; of note “both”-footedness is rarely reported, so I kept them together with left-footedness for simplicity

[6] Of the total 260 players, Kevin De Bruyne, Joshua Kimmich, and Kylian Mbappé are three of only eight left-handed footballers who are right-footed.

The post Left-Handed Footballers at the FIFA World Cup 2026 first appeared on René Westerhausen.

By examining the handedness of acclaimed architects the post explores the popular belief that left-handers posses a greater artistic talent than right-handers.

Reading popular‑science articles, blog posts, or online discussions about left‑handedness, one regularly comes across the claim that left‑handers possess a special talent for artistic expression. Ask your favourite generative‑AI chatbot, and you will readily be informed that left‑handers are thought to be over‑proportionally often found in the “creative fields” including visual art, music, or writing [1]. You might even get offered a list of names of supposed left-handed artists as examples for this creative left-handedness, with the likes of Leonardo da Vinci, Pablo Picasso, Vincent van Gogh, Jimi Hendrix, or Lady Gaga, topping that list [2].

While it is not entirely clear where this popular belief in “creative left-handers” originated, one root appears to stretch back to a series of studies examining the handedness of architects. Conducted in the 1970s and led by John Peterson, these studies reported that left-handers were surprisingly common at the Department of Architecture at the University of Cincinnati [3]. Instead of the roughly 10% prevalence expected in the general population, about 29% of the academic staff and 16% of the school’s students were reported to be left-handers. Even more intriguingly, the left-handed students were also more successful. The rate of graduation was about 10% points higher in left-handers than in their right-handed peers.

It is not really surprising that these astonishingly clear findings were taken as evidence for a special talent for architecture among left‑handers. Peterson’s observations were accordingly cited as a key evidence for the formulation of a general theory about human brain development [4]. It was argued that both being left‑handed and having a strong visual‑constructive imagination were the result of an accentuated maturation of the brain’s right hemisphere. This maturation, in turn, was hypothesised to be driven by unusually high prenatal levels of the hormone testosterone.

The validity of this theory has been seriously questioned ever since its conception. Yet, it offers a good story which at the time made it a quite influential theory. So, it is not unlikely that it helped cementing the idea of “creative left handedness” both in the heads of many scientists and, via journalists, also in the public mind.

Considering the handedness of architects, it must be noted, however, that most later studies that attempted to replicate Peterson’s findings failed to do so. And, when I first started looking into the topic early last year, the idea of an excess of left-handed architects was already standing on quite shaky fundaments. Nevertheless, curious, as I was, I decided to have another look at it and I set out to find left-handers among famous architects. I thought if left-handers were indeed predestined to pursue a career in architecture, they should be particularly well represented among the men and women who have left a lasting mark on our cities.

The very first name I typed into “google” was Sir Norman Foster, the British star architect. Even if you are not familiar with his name, I am certain you have come across one or two of his buildings. The Millennium Bridge in London, the renovated Reichstag with its modern glass dome in Berlin, or the 2 World Trade Center in New York, are some of the more famous examples. When watching the first documentary I found about him [5], it became quickly obvious – literally within the first shots – that Foster was sketching his ideas holding the pen in his left hand. And, after consulting some more online material, I was quite convinced, he was, in fact, a left-hander.

Spurred on by this surprisingly quick success, I typed in some other names that came to mind, and I soon landed on the Swiss architect duo Herzog and de Meuron, the minds behind the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg orThe Bird’s Nest, the stadion built for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. While one, Jacques Herzog, was clearly right-handed, the other, Pierre de Meuron, was writing and cutting ribbons with his left hand. Bingo! Another left-hander among the famous architects!

It was at this point that I decided to approach my hunt for left-handed architects a bit more systemically. Rather than randomly picking the names of architects that popped to my mind – a source which I was aware would soon run dry – I decided to go into the winner lists of various prestigious architecture awards. I started with the Pritzker Architecture prize, which is sometimes referred to as the “Nobel prize for architecture”, but soon went on to include other national and international awards and prizes in my search for relevant names.

Armed with a set of winners list I began scouring the internet for videos and pictures showing the various architects while they were writing, sketching, or drawing, so I could determine their handedness. And about 600 architects later, I crunched the numbers. Here is what I found [6]:

Only 8% of the architects were left‑handers (or ambidextrous) which was below rather than above the 10% one would expect in the general population. In other words, left-handed architects, like Foster and de Meuron, were not more common than expected.

However, many of the architects on the winners lists had been born and grown up in times in which left-handers were subject to retraining. So, it was not possible to exclude that some members of my sample had been taught, against their inborn preference for the left hand, to write – and maybe also sketch – with their right hand. Ignoring this historical trend would obviously result in an underestimation of the amount of true left-handers in my sample. I had to make sure that this was not the case.

Since the 1950s retraining has gone increasingly out of fashion[7] and by selectively excluding architects born before 1950, it was possible to minimise the effect of retraining on my results. And, doing so, the incidence of left-handedness was indeed increased in this younger cohort. Nevertheless, the corrected rate of 10% did not differ statistically from the expected population rate. Left-handers were also not unusually frequent among the younger architects.

In short, it appears that Peterson’s results stand out as an exception. Being a left-hander instead of a right-hander does not really increase the likelihood for becoming a succesful architect.

Coming back to the common belief in the creative left‑hander, the finding chips away one likely root for this belief, while adding to a growing body of evidence disproving it [8]. Also outside architecture, left‑handers, seen as a group, are neither more creative than right‑handers nor over‑represented in professions commonly considered “creative”. That is, left-handers are likely as talented as right-handers to pursue a career in visual arts, music, design, writing, or architecture.

[1] Porac, C. (2025). ChatGPT: Tell me what you know about left-handedness. Retrieved August 11, 2025, from, https://sites.psu.edu/clarep/2025/01/17/chatgpt-tell-me-what-you-know-about-left-handedness/

[2] It can be questioned whether Pablo Picasso or Vincent van Gogh actually were left-handers at all. Both likely painted with their right hand. See Lanthony, P. (1995). Left-handed painters. Revue Neurologique, 151(3), 165–170, and in case of Picasso, video evidence for this is readily available online

[3] Peterson, J. M., & Lansky, L. M. (1974). Left-handedness among architects: Some facts and speculation. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 38(2), 547–550. https://doi.org/10.2466/pms.1974.38.2.547; and Peterson, J. M., & Lansky, L. M. (1977). Left-handedness among architects: Partial replication and some new data. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 45(3), 1216–1218. https://doi.org/10.2466/pms.1977.45.3f.1216

[4] Known as the Geschwind-Galaburda theory, which can be found on wikipedia.org: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geschwind-Galaburda_hypothesis

[5] Norman Foster: Striving for Simplicity, 2015, Louisiana Channel, https://youtu.be/hJNxgv9Rak0

[6] Westerhausen, R. (2025). Handedness of acclaimed architects: No indication for an over-proportional representation of non-right handers. Laterality, 30(2-6), 220-234. https://doi.org/10.1080/1357650X.2025.2569374

[7] McManus, I. C., Moore, J., Freegard, M., & Rawles, R. (2010). Science in the making: Right hand, left hand. III: Estimating historical rates of left-handedness. Laterality, 15(1-2), 186–208. https://doi.org/10.1080/13576500802565313; see also previous posts on retraining

[8] Meta-analysis by Morgan, O., Zhao, S., & Casasanto, D. (2025). Handedness and creativity: Facts and fictions. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 1–35. doi:10.3758/s13423-025-02717-2; or see: Røsvoll, Å., Rusten, E. H., & Westerhausen, R. (2024). Left-hand preference in visual artists: a pre-registered observational study on Instagram. Laterality, 29(2), 184-198.  https://doi.org/10.1080/1357650X.2024.2315856 or post here

The post Handedness of Acclaimed Architects: Are Left-Handers More Talented? first appeared on René Westerhausen.

The post explores the reasons for why most of Jim Henson’s muppets are left-handers.

Browsing the catalogue of my favourite online library, I came across a book entitled Celebrated Left-Handers [1], which promised fabulous facts about these famous lefties. Curious as I am about all matters of handedness, I was intrigued and began leafing through the pages.

The book, published in 1999, was structured like a calendar. For each day of the year, it introduced a notable left-hander born on that date. There were many actors, sport stars, and various heads of various states, including a couple of U.S. presidents. I quickly realised, though, that the book was not always correct, as it featured a few – let’s say – honourable left‑handers, who almost certainly are right-handers. The then-prince-now-king Charles III of the United Kingdom, is one such example. The author apparently considered these celebrities important enough to grant them a place of honour among the genuine left‑handers.

One other of these supposed “lefties” can be found as entry on the 24th of September: Jim Henson, the American puppeteer. Should his name not immediately “ring a bell”, you will very likely recognise one or two of his creations, those anarchic characters Henson lovingly called muppets. You have likely encountered them in shows like Sesame Street or The Muppet Show. The stars of these shows, like Ernie and Bert, Kermit the Frog, or Miss Piggy, have left a lasting impression well-beyond children’s TV, and you might well have encountered them in other branches of popular culture .

Henson was, however, very likely a right-hander. He wrote and drew with his right hand and he, as you will see in a moment, controlled this puppets the way right-handers typically do. Although Henson certainly deserves to be mentioned in any book on celebrated people, the inclusion in this book on left-handers was very likely a mistake.

There were, nevertheless, a couple of lines in the paragraphs describing his work and life that caught my attention, as it suggested that one of his creations might well be a left-hander. It reads [2]:

“One of the earliest and most popular Muppets was … Kermit the Frog, who eventually became a kind of alter ego for the low‑key and essentially introverted Henson. Kermit was, like his creator, left‑handed.”

My curiosity was tickled, and I could not help but diving a bit deeper into this claim. I had to study Kermit’s handedness. So, rekindling my childhood fascination for Henson’s shows, I rewatch countless clips of Kermit acting on Sesame Street and in The Muppet Show – and indeed, it was true. Kermit clearly preferred his left hand, or whatever the frog equivalent of a hand his called by biologists. I found him holding micro- and telephones, pressing buttons, and even smashing cakes – always favouring his left hand. And during his iconic banjo routines, he strummed away with that same left hand leading the show.

And, to my surprise, Kermit was not the only leftie on the cast of these shows. Rather, most muppets seem to prefer their left hand. Bert, Ernie, the Count, Grover, Cookie Monster, Beaker, Floyd, Janice, Statler and Waldorf, all the characters I remembered from my childhood, turned out to be left-handers. Even Miss Piggy, the resident diva of the Muppet Show. You can watch her acting out her temperament, regularly hitting Kermit and other with her devastating left-hand swing.

As lively as Henson’s creations appear on screen, they are obviously just glove puppets. They are brought to live by the hands of various human puppeteers. And, it is not a very daring prediction to make that the Muppet’s left-handedness is, in one way or the other, reflecting the hand preference of these puppeteers.

So, I had to look at the puppeteers. As said, Henson was a right-hander, and so were most in his team. For example, Frank Oz, is a right-hander. He played among other the muppets Bert and Miss Piggy, and, by the way, also worked on the original Star Wars movies. Yes, in Yoda, his hand he had. And it turns out that right-handed puppeteers, like Oz and Henson, typically prefer to wear the glove puppet on their dominant right hand [3].

The picture below, which was taken at the recording of the Sesame Street, nicely illustrates this. On the left, you can see Frank Oz controlling Bert, the yellow fellow, who is a type of a glove-and-rod puppet. The glove part is the head of Bert, which is here operated by Oz with his right hand stuck in the puppet’s back. This leaves Oz’s left hand free to operate the rods or sticks controlling the hand and arm movements of the puppet. As Bert’s left hand is closer to Oz’s free left hand, Oz naturally prefers to use the left hand of Bert when interacting with the props or when gesticulating, making Bert appear to be a left-hander.

Similarly, on the right side, we see Jim Henson controlling Ernie, the orange chap. Ernie is a slightly different type of puppet than Bert as his hands are not controlled by rods. Rather he is a live-hand puppet, and has two gloves as hands, significantly increasing his manual dexterity compared with Bert, but also, as seen in the picture, requiring a second puppeteer when actions of both hands are required. So, Henson controls Ernie’s head with his right hand, while wearing a second glove representing the muppet’s left hand on his own left hand. Ernie’s right hand, in turn, is controlled by the second puppeteer wearing the glove – a process fittingly called right handing in the trade – which here is done by Daniel Seagren. Nevertheless, since Henson is the lead puppeteer of Ernie, it will naturally be him who leads the manual acting with his and Ernie’s left hand.

So, it appears, Henson’s muppets – and likely most other glove puppets – end up as left-handers simply because the nervous systems controlling them are usually right-handers. Right-handed puppeteers animate left-handed puppets.

Of course, not all people are right-handed, and the occasional left-handed puppeteer should animate right‑handed puppets. And, indeed, this seems to be the case. Louise Gold was one such puppeteer on The Muppet Show. She played various characters including the recurring Annie Sue – Miss Piggy’s younger pig rival. Gold used her left hand to control Annie Sue’s head and her right hand to guide the arm rods. Annie Sue accordingly turned out to be a right-handed muppet.

These observations enable us to speculate about the handedness of the muppets and puppets seen as a population. About 10% of the human population are left-handers [4], and there is no reason to doubt that puppeteers are somewhat representative for this population and exhibit a similar incidence rate of left handedness. The muppets controlled by these left-handers will likely appear right-handed, while the other 90% will typically turn out to be left-handed. In other words, in muppets right-handers are probably as infrequent as left-handers are among us humans.

Henson’s muppets, as most other puppets, are caricatures, accentuating our human quirks, anxieties, and peculiarities in their acting. Watching their shows, offers us a mirror, in which we can recognise ourselves or people we know. And, as for any proper mirror, left and right are also confused here, and most puppets appear left-handers.

[1] Rutledge, L. W. (1999). Celebrated left-handers: Fabulous facts about famous southpaws. NY: MJF Books. [https://archive.org/details/celebratedleftha00]

[2] Ibid, p. 214

[3] Freeman, S. (2007). How Muppets Work, HowStuffWorks.com. Retrieved 6. April 2026 [https://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/muppet.htm; archived here]

[4] Papadatou-Pastou, M. et al. (2020). Human handedness: A meta-analysis. Psychol. Bulletin, 146, 481-524. https://doi.org/10.1037/bul0000229

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