# Full Legal Name Required to Take the Presidential Oath of Office? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 24, 2008, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/full-legal-name-required-to-take-the-presidential-oath-of-office/469312 "2008-10-24T05:06:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Antinor01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2008, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/full-legal-name-required-to-take-the-presidential-oath-of-office/469312/21 "2008-10-24T17:48:23Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > FWIW, I was 8 when Carter took the oath. 🙂 I was 1. ---
**Author:** ![R.P.McMurphy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7993a0/32.png) [@R.P.McMurphy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/R.P.McMurphy)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2008, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/full-legal-name-required-to-take-the-presidential-oath-of-office/469312/22 "2008-10-24T17:57:09Z")
Wasn’t there some minor controversy because Bill Clinton preferred to use “Bill” instead of the the more formal “William J.”? I don’t know if it had to do with the inauguration or the way he signed his name on official documents. Refresh my memory. ---
**Author:** ![davekhps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@davekhps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davekhps)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2008, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/full-legal-name-required-to-take-the-presidential-oath-of-office/469312/23 "2008-10-24T18:05:54Z")
_"To get serious, these “less enlightened folks” are a pox on our country. They need to be enlightened, and if they can’t or won’t be enlightened, they need to be laughed at/scorned/ignored/shunned (any will do) because their opinion means squat, and their stupidity shouldn’t be catered to or taken seriously. "_ As long as we’re going off-topic. . . I suggest that you write your Representatives and Senators to demand that an Obama Administration create a federal agency in charge of this required enlightenment. These stupid people should be identified, collected in one place-- let’s call it a camp, people like going to camp!-- and disabused of their incorrect notions through a process I’d like to call “reeducation.” Then, once they are no longer deemed stupid in your eyes, they can be released and become productive members of society. Really, I think you should get behind it, it sounds like a winning idea. Europe does it all the time! ---
**Author:** ![Cyberhwk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7993a0/32.png) [@Cyberhwk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cyberhwk)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2008, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/full-legal-name-required-to-take-the-presidential-oath-of-office/469312/24 "2008-10-24T20:28:38Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > [Well that would just be wrong](http://www.rte.ie/news/2007/0315/obamab.html). He’s apparently got a lot of folks in the county his ancestors came from very excited-- They view him as a “native son”, of sorts. \*\*O’bama? \*\* 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Cliffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/59ef9b/32.png) [@Cliffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cliffy)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2008, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/full-legal-name-required-to-take-the-presidential-oath-of-office/469312/25 "2008-10-24T21:23:01Z")
> [@davekhps](#): > > Really, I think you should get behind it, it sounds like a winning idea. Europe does it all the time! How droll. –Cliffy ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2008, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/full-legal-name-required-to-take-the-presidential-oath-of-office/469312/26 "2008-10-24T22:37:24Z")
> [@Spartydog](#): > > Wasn’t there some minor controversy because Bill Clinton preferred to use “Bill” instead of the the more formal “William J.”? I don’t know if it had to do with the inauguration or the way he signed his name on official documents. > > Refresh my memory. The one I remember is Jimmy Carter, and on the election ballot rather than signing documents. In some (mainly Republican) states they wanted to list Jimmy Carter on the ballot as “James Earl Carter, Jr.” rather than the name “Jimmy” that he had used all his life, and was used throughout the campaign. (A third-of-a-century old example of attempted voter suppression, apparently.) His campaign had to sue states like Maine, and finally the Federal Electoral Commission over this, but they won, and the name Jimmy was used. And if you look him up in the official Library of Congress index, it will be under Jimmy Carter rather than James Earl Carter, Jr. ---
**Author:** ![xanthous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/53a042/32.png) [@xanthous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xanthous)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2008, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/full-legal-name-required-to-take-the-presidential-oath-of-office/469312/27 "2008-10-24T22:56:23Z")
> [@Moment\_Slayer](#): > > Agreed. This election has brought to the surface many issues lets get names to the surface as well. Just because Obama’s father was a muslim… SO WHAT!!! One of my favorite parts of Powell’s endorsement of Obama was when he said this: [QUOTE=Colin Powell] I’m also troubled by…what members of the party say, and is permitted to be said, such things as, ‘Well you know that Mr. Obama is a Muslim.’ Well, the correct answer is, ‘He is not a Muslim, he’s a Christian, he’s always been a Christian.’ But the really right answer is, ‘What if he is? Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country?’ [/QUOTE] Powerful words, those. I vote for Barack Hussein Obama. Let’s stick a fork in xenophobia! ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2008, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/full-legal-name-required-to-take-the-presidential-oath-of-office/469312/28 "2008-10-25T02:57:15Z")
My “baby” sister was 11 when George H. W. Bush was inaugurated. Her class at school watched the inauguration on TV, and she says everybody heard his name as “George Pervert Walker Bush” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2008, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/full-legal-name-required-to-take-the-presidential-oath-of-office/469312/29 "2008-10-25T03:06:25Z")
> [@Girl\_Next\_Door](#): > > Would it be too jarring for Americans to hear “I, Barack _Hussein_ Obama, do solemnly swear…”? _Jarring_? How would that be “jarring”? “Hey, Earl, this here negro President we done voted for… his middle name is _Hussein_! Kin you believe it?” To answer the question, he doesn’t seem to have taken any sort of pains to hide his middle name, and I see no reason why he wouldn’t use it. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2008, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/full-legal-name-required-to-take-the-presidential-oath-of-office/469312/30 "2008-10-25T03:20:04Z")
In most of these United States one’s “legal name” is whatever the hell one is known by. Saying “Barack Hussein Obama” isn’t going to shock or upset anybody who isn’t already upset by a him winning the election. Now if he said “I affirm” instead of “I swear” or left off “So Help Me God”\* there’d be hell to pay. \*It’s not even part of the oath; just an adlib Washington came up with. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2008, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/full-legal-name-required-to-take-the-presidential-oath-of-office/469312/31 "2008-10-25T04:21:10Z")
Heck, Obama is a perfectly good American name! They even named a state after his uncle Al. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![DanBlather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f4b2a3/32.png) [@DanBlather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DanBlather)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2008, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/full-legal-name-required-to-take-the-presidential-oath-of-office/469312/32 "2008-10-25T14:23:35Z")
Never mind ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2008, 10:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/full-legal-name-required-to-take-the-presidential-oath-of-office/469312/33 "2008-10-26T10:18:12Z")
> [@davekhps](#): > > As long as we’re going off-topic. . . I suggest that you write your Representatives and Senators to demand that an Obama Administration create a federal agency in charge of this required enlightenment. What a silly thing to say. The truth is out there regarding just about all the false memes that get spread around. These days the truth is easier to find than ever before, with the rise of the Internet. While the Internet can help spread lies, it can also find the truth. All that needs to happen is for enlightened people to speak up and do some enlightening, such as, for instance, telling people who believe that Obama is a Muslim that no, he’s not, he’s a Christian and perhaps sending them a link to Snopes. > [@davekhps](#): > > These stupid people should be identified They’re easily identified. All they have to do is open their mouths. > [@davekhps](#): > > let’s call it a camp, people like going to camp!-- and disabused of their incorrect notions through a process I’d like to call “reeducation.” Education can happen with the click of a mouse, no need for camps. You’re being silly again. > [@davekhps](#): > > Then, once they are no longer deemed stupid in your eyes, they can be released and become productive members of society. Right-wingers who spew ignorant crap are like flat-earthers. The time came when flat-earthers were reduced to bickering among themselves because the rest of the world had become enlightened and quit paying attention to them. Eventually the flat-earthers died out, to be replaced by the generations of people who had grown up in the enlightened age. Right-wingers had their day, and at some point they’ll go the way of the dodo. It can’t happen soon enough, but I don’t have to lift a finger to help it along. It will happen naturally. It’s a cheerful thought. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/full-legal-name-required-to-take-the-presidential-oath-of-office/469312.md?page=1)