# Voting for/nominating a candidate with an unelectable-sounding name **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [December 10, 2018, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voting-for-nominating-a-candidate-with-an-unelectable-sounding-name/825898 "2018-12-10T17:40:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2018, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voting-for-nominating-a-candidate-with-an-unelectable-sounding-name/825898/1 "2018-12-10T17:40:53Z")
A while back, there was a thread in which someone said that Hickenlooper wasn’t a suitable candidate for 2020 because his surname simply didn’t sound presidential or something voters would like. Let’s suppose there’s a candidate who is great in every regard - very charismatic, smart, photogenic, totally qualified, passionately fights for all the causes you support and agree with, and appears to be potentially the greatest president the USA has ever had yet…but alas, his surname is utterly unsuitable for politics - something like Buttface or Hitler or Trashbag. Would you still want him to be your party’s nominee? ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2018, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voting-for-nominating-a-candidate-with-an-unelectable-sounding-name/825898/2 "2018-12-10T17:43:34Z")
I don’t think it matters very much. I would have had a different opinion before 2008. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2018, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voting-for-nominating-a-candidate-with-an-unelectable-sounding-name/825898/3 "2018-12-10T18:09:30Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > A while back, there was a thread in which someone said that Hickenlooper wasn’t a suitable candidate for 2020 because his surname simply didn’t sound presidential or something voters would like. > Let’s suppose there’s a candidate who is great in every regard - very charismatic, smart, photogenic, totally qualified, passionately fights for all the causes you support and agree with, and appears to be potentially the greatest president the USA has ever had yet…but alas, his surname is utterly unsuitable for politics - something like Buttface or Hitler or Trashbag. Would you still want him to be your party’s nominee? I know it seems like an eternity ago, but we used to have a president named Barack (what kind of name is that?!? What’s wrong with John?) Hussein (hey, same name as one of our major enemies) Obama (sounds like Osama, the guy who orchestrated a giant terrorist attack). Do you remember that long-ago time? ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2018, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voting-for-nominating-a-candidate-with-an-unelectable-sounding-name/825898/4 "2018-12-10T18:26:32Z")
There was a guy running for State Senate here in Maryland whose name is Jesse Peed. I laughed whenever I saw a sign for him, since his first name was always in a smaller size than PEED. ---
**Author:** ![Covfefe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ee7513/32.png) [@Covfefe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Covfefe)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2018, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voting-for-nominating-a-candidate-with-an-unelectable-sounding-name/825898/5 "2018-12-10T18:27:39Z")
Unless it’s something really aberrant, I think people get used to peculiar names and the greater hindrance to national would be a name(s) easy to mispronounce or difficult to pronounce. So my intuition would be Kirsten Gillibrand is a less ideal name than John Hickenlooper and the somewhat unusual variant of her first name probably doesn’t help, at least in some regions. ---
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2018, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voting-for-nominating-a-candidate-with-an-unelectable-sounding-name/825898/6 "2018-12-10T18:40:14Z")
Surely you are aware that Obama’s middle name is Hussein? And his last name of Obama is suspiciously close to Osama? We all saw how that worked out! ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2018, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voting-for-nominating-a-candidate-with-an-unelectable-sounding-name/825898/7 "2018-12-10T18:43:23Z")
> [@Slash1972](#): > > There was a guy running for State Senate here in Maryland whose name is Jesse Peed. I laughed whenever I saw a sign for him, since his first name was always in a smaller size than PEED. There’s a longtime New Hampshire pol who’s been repeatedly elected under the name Dick Swett. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2018, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voting-for-nominating-a-candidate-with-an-unelectable-sounding-name/825898/8 "2018-12-10T19:37:18Z")
I think that, ironically, a funny name might even be an asset. There are always going to be people looking for something about a candidate to make fun of, and a funny name is an easy target for that… but it’s not, I think, one that actually has a lot of traction with voters. Now, Obama’s middle name did have some traction, at least in motivating extreme voters (though probably not much in swaying moderates). But there, the problem was not that it was unfamiliar, but that it was _too_ familiar. Nobody made a big deal out of “Barack”, which is also an Arabic name. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2018, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voting-for-nominating-a-candidate-with-an-unelectable-sounding-name/825898/9 "2018-12-10T19:44:33Z")
With enough repetition, \*any \*name will come to sound familiar. Campaigns do create quite a lot of repetition, too. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2018, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voting-for-nominating-a-candidate-with-an-unelectable-sounding-name/825898/10 "2018-12-10T19:56:41Z")
> [@RitterSport](#): > > I know it seems like an eternity ago, but we used to have a president named Barack (what kind of name is that?!? What’s wrong with John?) Hussein (hey, same name as one of our major enemies) Obama (sounds like Osama, the guy who orchestrated a giant terrorist attack). Do you remember that long-ago time? I don’t think that’s the same at all, though. “Barack Obama” is very different than a name such as Poop (and yes, I’ve heard of a real person with that surname.) The former is merely “ethnically sounding” whereas the latter is just an unfortunately ripe target for endless mockery. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2018, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voting-for-nominating-a-candidate-with-an-unelectable-sounding-name/825898/11 "2018-12-10T20:08:20Z")
> [@RitterSport](#): > > I know it seems like an eternity ago, but we used to have a president named Barack (what kind of name is that?!? What’s wrong with John?) Hussein (hey, same name as one of our major enemies) Obama (sounds like Osama, the guy who orchestrated a giant terrorist attack). Do you remember that long-ago time? I made this argument at the time, and I was clearly in the wrong. Humanity did something reasonable for once. Of course, now they’re making up for it. ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Shine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr_shine/32/464_2.png) [@Mr\_Shine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Shine)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2018, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voting-for-nominating-a-candidate-with-an-unelectable-sounding-name/825898/12 "2018-12-10T20:08:31Z")
I don’t think Ed Balls’ name had any major effect on his chances at Labour leadership. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2018, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voting-for-nominating-a-candidate-with-an-unelectable-sounding-name/825898/13 "2018-12-10T20:13:50Z")
[Harry Baals](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Baals)’ name probably helped him. ---
**Author:** ![Bone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bone/32/407_2.png) [@Bone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bone)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2018, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voting-for-nominating-a-candidate-with-an-unelectable-sounding-name/825898/14 "2018-12-10T20:26:49Z")
People voted for Boaty McBoatFace. Not for public office, but still. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2018, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voting-for-nominating-a-candidate-with-an-unelectable-sounding-name/825898/15 "2018-12-10T20:32:41Z")
I for one, would happily vote to elect Harry Balzac President. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2018, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voting-for-nominating-a-candidate-with-an-unelectable-sounding-name/825898/16 "2018-12-10T22:52:20Z")
I might hesitate to vote for someone with a truly weird name, thinking that (s)he would’ve been warped by all the crap they took while growing up. Parents should think of their kid’s future political ambitions before [saddling them with a goofy name](http://kidspot.com.au/birth/baby-names/naming-your-baby/mum-cancels-baby-shower-after-name-backlash/news-story/a6459aaf3f973eefd7ec25ed81d0302a). “My baby’s name WILL be a revolution. It will push people to question everything. Why name your baby boring and over-used names like Joshua, Brian, Sam, Nick, Mark, Bella, Marina, etc… when you can name it something special. “Squire Sebastian Senator will live a powerful, wholesome life. His confidence will not dimish simply because his name is out of the ordinary. Instead, he will be extraordinary. F\*\*\* you all. Fake a\*\* family. You won’t get to be part of my baby’s life and it’s all because you had to judge him.” ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2018, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voting-for-nominating-a-candidate-with-an-unelectable-sounding-name/825898/17 "2018-12-10T23:13:59Z")
I know a lady who named her kid Knowledge, truly that’s his first name. Too bad he’s dumb as a doorknob. Names don’t make you who you are. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2018, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voting-for-nominating-a-candidate-with-an-unelectable-sounding-name/825898/18 "2018-12-10T23:22:22Z")
Millions of people never thought “Donald Trump” was a presidential-sounding name, either. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2018, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voting-for-nominating-a-candidate-with-an-unelectable-sounding-name/825898/19 "2018-12-11T00:12:29Z")
> [@Procrustus](#): > > I don’t think it matters very much. I would have had a different opinion before 2008. > [@Icarus](#): > > Surely you are aware that Obama’s middle name is Hussein? > > And his last name of Obama is suspiciously close to Osama? > > We all saw how that worked out! Yep. [THIS](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9YQLPKrk7mo) was the first thing I thought of when I saw the thread title. ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2018, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voting-for-nominating-a-candidate-with-an-unelectable-sounding-name/825898/20 "2018-12-11T00:13:46Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > Millions of people never thought “Donald Trump” was a presidential-sounding name, either. :dubious: And still don’t. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voting-for-nominating-a-candidate-with-an-unelectable-sounding-name/825898.md?page=2)