A 2014 study analyzed 62 years of US hurricanes and found female-named storms were nearly three times as deadly as male-named ones, possibly because people perceived them as less threatening and were less likely to take protective action

When a hurricane approaches, people usually look at its projected path, wind speed, pressure and expected damage. But could something as seemingly irrelevant as the storm’s name influence how dangerous people believe it is?

A 2014 study published in PNAS examined more than six decades of US hurricane data to investigate exactly that question. Researchers compared hurricanes with masculine and feminine names and found that, among more severe storms, those with feminine names were associated with significantly higher death rates.