Is R2-D2 Male or Female?

Star Wars has become hugely popular in my house now that my son is old enough to enjoy it. One of the more interesting characters who plays an important role in all six movies is the droid, R2-D2.

For reasons beyond understanding, I recently started wondering what gender R2 was. My son is sure he is a boy, and that was also my first reaction. When I asked him why he thought R2 was a boy, he said with the certainty of a 5 year old that “R2-D2″ is a boy’s name. I asked him how many boys he knew who were named R2-D2, and he countered that he didn’t know any girls with that name, so it must be a boy’s name.

So I decided to look at the evidence from the films, and after doing so, I came to the conclusion that R2-D2 is in fact female. Here is why:

• In most species, females are smaller than males, and R2 is smaller than most other droids (most notablyC-3P0)
• Ships are “she’s”(“She’ll make .5 past lightspeed”) so why not driods?
• The high noises R2 uses to communicate are oddly similar to the sound a group of 5 or more women make when gathered for coffee
• When in an X-Wing or similar ship, R2 does not actually drive but instead offers assistance and encourages the pilot to stop and ask for directions when lost
• R2 was working as a waitress on Jabba’s cocktail barge.