# Why do Politicians have funny names? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 6, 2003, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-politicians-have-funny-names/193339 "2003-08-06T15:21:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2003, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-politicians-have-funny-names/193339/1 "2003-08-06T15:21:23Z")
I understand why entertainers have funny names. They change their names to gain some small advantage in dealing with the public. Rock Hudson, Rush Limbagh, Charlton Heston, Whoopie Goldburg. Why do so many (American) politicians have funny names? Roscoe Bartlett (My congressweasel) Goodloe Byron (before him) Trent Lott Eugene McCarthy Barry Goldwater Richard Milhouse Nixon Rodney Alexander And so on. Do they too have some small name-recognition advantage in elections? Do people with odd names tend to gravitate toward public life for this reason? ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2003, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-politicians-have-funny-names/193339/2 "2003-08-06T15:35:21Z")
You mean funny names like Bill Clinton, George Bush, Al Gore, Dan Quayle? I think you are just noticing the ones that stand out and ignoring all the rest of the names. How many people that you know in real life have “interesting” names? ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2003, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-politicians-have-funny-names/193339/3 "2003-08-06T15:39:45Z")
Good point, you may be right, but (considering only the Canadians and Americans) the oddest name I know is a “Jon.” That doesn’t really make the grade in this league. How about you? ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2003, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-politicians-have-funny-names/193339/4 "2003-08-06T15:46:17Z")
The only name in your list that strikes me even a bit odd is “Goodloe”. The rest seem perfectly normal, and most aren’t even unusual. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2003, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-politicians-have-funny-names/193339/5 "2003-08-06T15:52:56Z")
Forgive me, Roscoe (for example) is a “real” name but I only met one, the one cited. I know no Milhouses, never met a Trent, Eugene nor a Rodney. Have you? I did have a Barry roommate in undergrad. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2003, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-politicians-have-funny-names/193339/6 "2003-08-06T15:54:02Z")
Sorry, but I’m with **Telemark**. You’re only noticing them because they are in the public eye. The world is awash in people with far stranger names than that. There are whole books about very ordinary people with extremely strange names. And people in other fields have odd given names as well. Stone Phillips, for example. Sports figures whose first names are Major or Lawyer. These names didn’t predispose them for sports. The only possible exception I would make is that historically senators have come from the upper classes in the U.S. And they have historically had a practice of using last names as given names, which results in some names that look odd to the modern eye. Same for middle names like Milhouse. How many middle names do you know for all your friends? ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2003, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-politicians-have-funny-names/193339/7 "2003-08-06T16:15:57Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Paul in Saudi \* > \*\*Forgive me, Roscoe (for example) is a “real” name but I only met one, the one cited. > > I know no Milhouses, never met a Trent, Eugene nor a Rodney. Have you? > > I did have a Barry roommate in undergrad. \*\* Well, Milhouse was his _middle_ name. But there is a Milhouse on _The Simpson’s_. I’ve never met a Trent, but I have met several Eugenes (where did you think the name Gene comes from?), and a few Rodneys. ---
**Author:** ![Governor\_Quinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@Governor\_Quinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Governor_Quinn)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2003, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-politicians-have-funny-names/193339/8 "2003-08-06T16:17:54Z")
Trent Lott’s real first name is “Chester”. You think those are funny names? Look at politicians from the turn of the century. Chauncey Depew (Senator from New York), anyone? ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2003, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-politicians-have-funny-names/193339/9 "2003-08-06T16:19:15Z")
Also, many politicians are a bit old. It takes time to work up all the way - few people enter the public eye at a young age. That means that names popular now won’t be popular when today’s kids become politicos. ---
**Author:** ![Governor\_Quinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@Governor\_Quinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Governor_Quinn)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2003, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-politicians-have-funny-names/193339/10 "2003-08-06T16:20:03Z")
In addition, backing **Q.E.D.** , most people who go by the name “Rod” have a real first name of “Rodney”. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2003, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-politicians-have-funny-names/193339/11 "2003-08-06T16:33:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Paul in Saudi \* > \*\*I understand why entertainers have funny names. They change their names to gain some small advantage in dealing with the public. > Rock Hudson, Rush Limbagh, Charlton Heston, Whoopie Goldburg. > > Why do so many (American) politicians have funny names? > Roscoe Bartlett (My congressweasel) > Goodloe Byron (before him) > Trent Lott > Eugene McCarthy > Barry Goldwater > Richard Milhouse Nixon > Rodney Alexander > > And so on. > > Do they too have some small name-recognition advantage in elections? Do people with odd names tend to gravitate toward public life for this reason? \*\* Eugene McCarthy, that’s hysterical! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Uh… wait… what’s so funny about it? And Rush Limbaugh isn’t a stage name, it’s the name his parents gave him. - Beyond that, most of the politicians I can think of have very ordinary sounding names: what’s memorable or funny about “Bob Graham,” “John Kerrey,” “John Glenn,” “Bill Bradley,” or “Edward Kennedy,” for instance? ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2003, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-politicians-have-funny-names/193339/12 "2003-08-06T17:27:35Z")
You think Stone Phillips is funny? What about weatherman Storm Field? (I’m not sure what his actual name is.) ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2003, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-politicians-have-funny-names/193339/13 "2003-08-06T17:39:05Z")
Smiling Bandit makes an excellent point. To really get a sample, we would need to look at names for sixty-year-old guys. I know no Rods nor any Rodneys. If my given name was Chester, I would go by Trent too. Still, I know no Chesters in real life. Yes, Eugene is a funny name. All the Genes I know are “Gene” on thier birth certificates. (On the subject of funny names we cannot allow Wolf Blitzer to go uncommented upon.) ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2003, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-politicians-have-funny-names/193339/14 "2003-08-06T17:39:59Z")
His actual name _is_ Storm Field. He’s the son of the late great weatherman Dr. Frank Field. ---
**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:** [August 6, 2003, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-politicians-have-funny-names/193339/15 "2003-08-06T17:42:57Z")
Milhouse was Richard Nixon’s mother’s maiden name. It’s not that unusual for a person’s middle name, or even first name, to be a surname from somewhere in the family tree. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2003, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-politicians-have-funny-names/193339/16 "2003-08-06T17:59:22Z")
Point taken. I have run across that before. We can take Nixon off the list. ---
**Author:** ![ltfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ea924/32.png) [@ltfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ltfire)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2003, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-politicians-have-funny-names/193339/17 "2003-08-07T00:04:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Marley23 \* > \*\*You think Stone Phillips is funny? What about weatherman Storm Field? (I’m not sure what his actual name is.) \*\* …His actual name is ELESION. ELESION FIELD? nevermind…🙂 ---
**Author:** ![mascaroni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/dc4da7/32.png) [@mascaroni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mascaroni)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2003, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-politicians-have-funny-names/193339/18 "2003-08-07T00:14:05Z")
I fail to see anything funny at all in the name of tne former South Korean Prime Minister [Lee Bum Suk](http://terra.es/personal2/monolith/koreasou.htm) … ---
**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:** [August 7, 2003, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-politicians-have-funny-names/193339/19 "2003-08-07T00:25:02Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Paul in Saudi \* > **I know no Milhouses, never met a Trent, Eugene nor a Rodney. Have you?** I know two Trents, both of whom are in their late 30’s or early 40’s, one Eugene (60ish), and three Rodneys (one is 53 and the other two are in their late 40’s). I may not have considered any of these as baby names, but I never thought of them as strange or abnormal. ---
**Author:** ![ubermensch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/bcef8e/32.png) [@ubermensch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ubermensch)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2003, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-politicians-have-funny-names/193339/20 "2003-08-07T00:57:13Z")
Dick Posthumus? (former Michigan Lt. Governor) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-politicians-have-funny-names/193339.md?page=2)