# Great political names. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 15, 2000, 9:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-political-names/45722 "2000-12-15T09:02:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2000, 9:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-political-names/45722/1 "2000-12-15T09:02:34Z")
Give me news from the evening news. Names that roll off the tongue. Names that send you into shivers when Peter Mansbridge says them. I vote for: -Corazón Aquino. -Canaan Banana (a very homophobic former president of Zimbabwe who was accused of sodomy by his even more homophobic successor Robert Mugabe, leading to the actual headline “BANANA CHARGED WITH SODOMY.”) -Tansu Çiller. -Vigdis Finbogadottir. -Attal Bihari Vajpayee. -Svend Robinson. -Rigoberta Menchú. -Karol Wojtyla. (The pope.) -Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu. (Mother Teresa.) -Lech Walesa. (Wish I could get the accents for that.) -And finally, Vladimir Putin, if only because in French he is Vladimir Poutine. (Poutine is a Québécois delicacy consisting of French fries with gravy and cheese curds.) ---
**Author:** ![Zenster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/cdc98d/32.png) [@Zenster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zenster)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2000, 9:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-political-names/45722/2 "2000-12-15T09:21:55Z")
Mohandas Mahatma Ghandi ---
**Author:** ![Sapphire\_Bullet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/96bed5/32.png) [@Sapphire\_Bullet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sapphire_Bullet)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2000, 9:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-political-names/45722/3 "2000-12-15T09:52:13Z")
Boutros Boutros-Ghali Ehud Barak Benjamin Netanyahu ---
**Author:** ![zyzzyva](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@zyzzyva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zyzzyva)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2000, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-political-names/45722/4 "2000-12-15T19:31:28Z")
How can we forget the Dutch prime minister: **Rud Lubbers** ---
**Author:** ![hypergirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/49beb7/32.png) [@hypergirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hypergirl)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2000, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-political-names/45722/5 "2000-12-15T19:34:58Z")
Monica Morehead. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![scratch1300](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dfb087/32.png) [@scratch1300](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scratch1300)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2000, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-political-names/45722/6 "2000-12-15T19:43:16Z")
[ul][li]Vladimir Zhirinovsky (Russia)[/li][li]Kiro Gligorov (Macedonia)[/li][li]Nursultan Nazarbayev (Kazakhstan)[/ul][/li]And the number one great political name: [ul]Mangosuthu Buthelezi (South Africa)[/ul] ---
**Author:** ![City\_Gent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a87d85/32.png) [@City\_Gent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/City_Gent)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2000, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-political-names/45722/7 "2000-12-15T19:54:28Z")
Bourke B. Hickenlooper (member of Congress from Indiana IIRC, mid-20th century) [hijack] Wasn’t Rigoberta Menchu’s book fairly extensively debunked? [\hijack] ---
**Author:** ![idiotboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@idiotboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/idiotboy)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2000, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-political-names/45722/8 "2000-12-15T19:55:39Z")
**DUBYA! DUBYA! DUBYA!** Yeah, it rolls off the tongue alright…and up the nose… Sorry…I just couldn’t resist. 😃 \*Runs really fast that way ----\> ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2000, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-political-names/45722/9 "2000-12-15T19:55:48Z")
Dick Army Is it a single guy or a group? ---
**Author:** ![scratch1300](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dfb087/32.png) [@scratch1300](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scratch1300)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2000, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-political-names/45722/10 "2000-12-15T20:04:01Z")
Oooh…and members of Congress from the past decade: [ul][li]Malcolm Wallop[/li][li]Floyd Flake[/li][li]Zack Wamp[/ul][/li]and of course [ul]Newt Gingrich[/ul] ---
**Author:** ![Danimal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bb73d2/32.png) [@Danimal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Danimal)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2000, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-political-names/45722/11 "2000-12-15T20:09:32Z")
I always thought “Vaclav Havel” had a nice ring to it. The name “Ben Nighthorse Campbell” appeals to me too. It’s the middle name that does it, of course: “Ben Campbell” would be dull as dishwater. “Ben Nighthorse Campbell” sounds like a Plains Indian warrior from another age. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2000, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-political-names/45722/12 "2000-12-15T20:19:36Z")
Edward Amvrozievich Shevardnadze, head of state of Georgia, who succeeded Zviad Gamsakhurdia. ---
**Author:** ![Maeglin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8baadc/32.png) [@Maeglin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maeglin)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2000, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-political-names/45722/13 "2000-12-15T21:07:54Z")
Maarti Ahtisaari, the former president of Finland. Olaf Ragnar Grimsson, pres. of Iceland. ---
**Author:** ![Ceejaytee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ceejaytee/32/2956_2.png) [@Ceejaytee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ceejaytee)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2000, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-political-names/45722/14 "2000-12-15T21:59:52Z")
Bella Abzug (no one looked better in a hat) Mario Cuomo (so melodic) Daniel Patrick Moynihan (so sorry we call him “Pat”–his full name sounds so Senatorial) Matthew McLauchlin (well, he _ran_ for office) 😉 Indira Gandhi Ariel Sharon (don’t like him, but great name) Crazy King Ludwig (if monarchs and nicknames count) ---
**Author:** ![InternetLegend](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/internetlegend/32/13154_2.png) [@InternetLegend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InternetLegend)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2000, 8:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-political-names/45722/15 "2000-12-16T08:12:57Z")
From the other side of the mic: **Christiane Amanpour** and we can’t forget **Wolf Blitzer** ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2000, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-political-names/45722/16 "2000-12-16T16:47:05Z")
George Lincoln Rockwell - really great name, really bad politician. ---
**Author:** ![Jaakko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a9adbd/32.png) [@Jaakko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jaakko)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2000, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-political-names/45722/17 "2000-12-16T17:32:41Z")
Nikita Nikita Nikita Nikita Nikita **Khrushchev**! ---
**Author:** ![therealblaze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a9adbd/32.png) [@therealblaze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/therealblaze)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2001, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-political-names/45722/18 "2001-10-09T12:24:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Maeglin \* > \*\*Maarti Ahtisaari, the former president of Finland. > > Olaf Ragnar Grimsson, pres. of Iceland. \*\* That would be [**Martti** Ahtisaari](http://www.ahtisaari.fi/). And he is still a President but not the President of the Republic. ---
**Author:** ![iampunha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/74df32/32.png) [@iampunha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iampunha)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2001, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-political-names/45722/19 "2001-10-09T13:09:56Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by City Gent \* > [hijack] > Wasn’t Rigoberta Menchu’s book fairly extensively debunked? > [\hijack] The debunking I read basically said: “damn in-laws.” [/hijack] Garcelle Beauvais ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2001, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-political-names/45722/20 "2001-10-09T13:15:22Z")
For some reason I always loved saying the name of **Javier Perez de Cuellar** [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-political-names/45722.md?page=2)