2969: Vice President First Names

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Vice President First Names

Title text: [Political pundit on the ScrabbleTV News channel] "After four years of defying orthographic pressure, Joe ceded the top of the ticket to Kamala, who--after considering Josh, Mark, Andy, Roy, and Pete--picked Tim."

Explanation

Randall observes that American Vice Presidents since the 1980s have almost all gone by short first names. It should be noted that all of the "short" first names in this strip, with the exception of John (F. Kennedy) are diminutives (or initials) of longer names, but all represent the names which the candidates preferred and publicly used. This comic was published one day after Kamala Harris (who replaced Biden as presidential candidate) chose Tim Walz as her running mate for the 2024 presidential election. Both the Republican and Democratic tickets are listed for 2024, since the 2024 election had not yet concluded when this comic was made. Either party winning would match the observation.

In the comic's caption, Randall amusingly describes this as an emerging "political consensus."

While not a "political" consensus per se, the observed phenomenon is a type of consensus — reflecting a multi-decade change in US societal norms — and is not simply a random coincidence.

• There has been a national US trend toward shorter names since the 1980s and 1990s, with a rise in the popularity of baby names like Ryan, Kyle, Amy and Lisa. (The trend has continued, with even shorter names like Ava, Mia and Max becoming more common in the 2000s and 2010s.)
• This has paralleled a trend in shorter business names, with companies like Dell, Cisco and eBay before the turn of the millennium and Google, Uber and Lyft after (cf. pre-1980 businesses like AT&T, BNSF or 3M which had to convert their very long names into acronyms to adapt). Product naming also began to simplify in the late 20th century, driven by marketing strategies that favored brevity and memorability, exemplified by Apple's iconic "iMac" and "iPhone" products.
• All of these naming trends reflect a general societal trend toward minimalism and less formality, also seen with corporate logos, product design (Apple), clothing design (Gap), furniture design (IKEA) and web/app design.

This societal shift may explain why many politicians with given names like Albert and Richard might have preferred to go by shorter, less formal sounding, more approachable names like Al and Dick, to match the zeitgeist.

That Vice Presidents have used shorter names than Presidents since the 1980s is an interesting coincidence (more discussion below). Most of the Presidents since the 1980s happened to have names (such as George, Barack and Kamala) that can't be easily shortened. And the exception, Donald Trump (which can be shortened to Don), did not become a politician until the nice age of 69, when he was already nationally famous using his full name.

The title text amusingly suggests (1) the existence of a ScrabbleTV News channel (named after the word game) staffed with (2) political pundits who (3) report Biden's decision to end his re-election campaign as being driven by orthographic (related to the writing of words) pressure to conform to the aforementioned political consensus. Having Joe Biden as President and Kamala Harris as VP violated this pattern, but elevating Harris to the presidency and selecting a short-named running mate restored it. Like Tim Walz, all of the final six candidates considered as Harris's running mate had short first names: Josh Shapiro, Mark Kelly, Andy Beshear, Roy Cooper and Pete Buttigieg.

• This could also be a subtle joke about political pundits tending to give confident, inaccurate hot-takes. (Biden's decision was driven, among other things, by worsening polling, rising concerns about his age, a poor debate performance against Trump and subsequent pressure from other leading Democrats.)

This is Randall's second recent comic about US politics and Kamala Harris, the first being 2962: President Venn Diagram which was published right after she rose to the top of the Democratic ticket.

Observations

It is interesting that, even ignoring the stricter definition of having less than four letters in their name, only four pairings have a Presidential given (or adopted) name that is shorter than the Vice-Presidential one, and just two further cases (one of these not involved in winning an election) have equal length names.

Contextual table of names

Presidential and Vice-Presidential names, for the period within the comic, in chronological order.

Year	President	Vice-President
1952 (also 1956)	Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower born David Dwight "Little Ike" Eisenhower	Richard Milhous Nixon
1960	John "Jack" Fitzgerald Kennedy	Lyndon Baines Johnson
1963 (Not in comic.)	Lyndon B. Johnson
1964	Lyndon B. Johnson	Hubert Horatio Humphrey Jr.
1968 (also 1972)	‎Richard Nixon	Spiro Theodore Agnew
1973	Richard Nixon	Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr born Leslie Lynch King Jr.
1974	‎Gerald Ford	Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller*
1976	‎James "Jimmy" Earl Carter Jr.	Walter Frederick "Fritz" Mondale
1980 (also 1984)	Ronald Wilson Reagan	George Herbert Walker Bush
1988	George H.W. Bush	James Danforth "Dan" Quayle
1992 (also 1996)	William "Bill" Jefferson Clinton born William Jefferson Blythe III	Albert "Al" Arnold Gore Jr.
2000 (also 2004)	George Walker Bush	Richard "Dick" Bruce Cheney
2008 (also 2012)	Barack Hussein Obama II	Joseph "Joe" Robinette Biden Jr.
2016	Donald John Trump‎‎	Michael "Mike" Richard Pence
2020	"Joe" Biden	Kamala Devi Harris
2024 (If Democrats win)	Kamala Harris	Timothy "Tim" James Walz
2024 (If Republicans win)	Donald J. Trump	James David "JD" Vance born James Donald Bowman

Complete titles are given in the first occurance, providing a full context of options for identification purposes; subsequent mentions may be reduced to their 'typical' name. Any relevent self-acknowledged sobriquets are inserted in quotes.

Bold is used to indicate the individual's actually most commonly used single given name, as referenced within the comic. Surnames (also commonly used, with or without the title or other disambiguation) are wikilinked upon their first appearance.

Italics indicates birth names, where different.

Darkened rows show transitions not made via a 'ticket' at the end of each 4-year electoral cycle.

Yellow cells echo the comic's highlights indicating given names being four or fewer characters in length.

Transcript

[A table is shown in a panel.]

[To one side, there is a single 'key' square, shaded yellow, given a label:] "Four letters or fewer"

[Table header has no 'first column' cell, leaving a bite out of it]

[Second column cell:]President

[Third column cell:]VP

[Further rows are of the pattern of: years, presidential names and vp names]

[Year:] 2024 [President (question mark then two rows of names):]? [name1:] Kamala [name2:] Donald [VP, shaded yellow (two rows of names then question mark):] [name1:] Tim [name2:] JD [question mark:] ?

[Year:] 2020 [President, shaded yellow:] Joe [VP:] Kamala

[Year:] 2016 [President:] Donald‎ [VP, shaded yellow:] Mike

[Year:] 2008 [President:] Barack‎ [VP, shaded yellow:] Joe

[Year:] 2000 [President:] George [VP, shaded yellow:] Dick

[Year:] 1992 [President, shaded yellow:] Bill || Al

[Year:] 1988 [President:] George [VP, shaded yellow:] Dan

[Year:] 1980 [President:] Ronald‎ [VP:] George

[Year:] 1976 [President:] Jimmy [VP:] Walter

[Year:] 1974 [President:] Gerald [VP:] Nelson

[Year:] 1973 [President:] Richard [VP:] Gerald

[Year:] 1968 [President:] Richard [VP:] Spiro

[Year:] 1964 [President:] Lyndon [VP:] Hubert

[Year:] 1960 [President, shaded yellow:] John [VP:] Lyndon

[Year:] 1952 [President:] Dwight [VP:] Richard

[Caption below the panel:]

Since the 1980s, a political consensus has emerged: vice presidents should have short first names.

Trivia: Other ways to shorten names

Politicians can also use a more casual name by using an already less unwieldy middle name (as with Willard Mitt Romney, but doubly-averted in Dan Quayle's case). Even when they're not shortened to four or fewer letters, names can be made more casual in other ways (as with Bernard 'Bernie' Sanders). As well, some politicians were commonly called by short nicknames even if they did not run under those names (Dwight 'Ike' Eisenhower).

Some of these may have been adult decisions, a personal choice to mark adulthood (or a change of career) by a more character-distinguishing variation, others may have been 'imposed' upon them by family, friends or peers over time and become happily accepted as the norm by the recipient without any great personal consideration.

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Discussion

I mentioned 1122 in the description. Are there any other comics about election trends/rules? Well, 2383, of course. 172.71.182.150 14:33, 7 August 2024 (UTC)

In checking all names, surprised to see so many "né"s, but not overly surprised to see no "neé"s. (I mean, "Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton (née H. D. Rodham)" would have been one, of course, in a different trouserleg of time. But Harris stayed as "Harris", not taking/adding "Emhoff" from the person who may well become the first First Gentleman.) Interesting though. Had to resist adding "Dubya", "Ronnie" and "Rocky" nicknames, of course, as they were not the 'formal' nickname that the respective people prefered to go by. 172.70.90.130 16:29, 7 August 2024 (UTC)

Harris only actually met Emhoff in 2013, way after she started her political career - which I guess is why she didn't want to shake her 'brand' by switching her name up. The practise isn't nearly as automatic these days as it used to be. And re:other nicknames, I only mentioned Ike's cause as far as I know it's the case where it was embraced by his campaign the most. 172.70.115.103 22:10, 7 August 2024 (UTC)

My only knowledge doesn't quite stretch far enough back to know if John "Jack" F. Kennedy was often identified as such as a contemporaneous slightly-familiar-but-public-facing name (it's used by recollections of his contemporaries and peers, and historic depictions of those who were more casual). "Ike" of course was great for his chosen slogan.

Other than that, I know that the likes of (Tricky-)Dicky and Ronnie were used publicly by detractors, or at least those who weren't likely to be saying them to their faces (though I'm sure "Ron" and "Ronnie" were also used by Jane and Nancy, personally). Of course "Mr President", and Sir-like honorifics, would have been the more public in-person address for all of them.

There'd be a lot of personal preference, that would be interesting to analyse from transcripts of conversations at various levels of formality. I'd say, though, that generally the earlier (culturally) they got established, perhaps the more they'd be used to a more formal address, but the younger they were established in the public eye (seeking to establish themselves) then the more likely they were to 'debut' with a handy shortened name. Add a bit of personal preference ("Not 'Don', please") or difficulty to make a casual version ("Kama? Kam? Mala?" ...maybe also more difficult with unfamiliar names not already having well known alternatives in the given sphere, though I've seen the opposite, e.g. "Shappi" being thought handier than "Shaparak") and there's probably a number of confounding factors, but the tendency towards informal/casual or even outright depricative in recent years has probably rid culture of the original ("don't call me Thomas, only my mother and my old teachers call me Thomas...").

I think Jimmy Carter got in there early. Relatively young, when aquiring his 'electoral name', and the dactyl "James Carter" doesn't trip as easily as the double-trochee that already fit with a whole slew of predecessors (though his immediate predecessor was anapestic) and successor. The "eighties onwards" trend has seemed to bend towards more casual for most people, though. Exceptions generally having humps in the road to going along with this idea. ("Barry" Obama doesn't improve the syllables at all, and seems to have most use as a dismissive informality by detractors.) 172.70.86.145 11:49, 8 August 2024 (UTC)

Going from the beginning you're pretty much limited to Johns and a Levi prior to the chart. There a few potential Hanks and Bills, and a possible Ted more commonly referred to as Teddy. I've never heard anyone refer to Tom Jefferson or Chet A. Arthur. RegularSizedGuy (talk) 16:42, 7 August 2024 (UTC)

What about Hann? And, 'Sky' (Unless you decide to pronounce the latter more like "Schu". Because, if you did, those two together would fit them like a glove...) 172.68.186.157 17:03, 7 August 2024 (UTC)

Alright, it seems that somebody has removed my earlier comment protesting the ongoing genocide that Harris supports. Has this wiki fallen too? 172.70.90.130 17:09, 7 August 2024 (UTC)

A quick runthrough of article edits doesn't show anything of what you say, unless I've missed it as too subtle. But, I have to say, that the wording you use here is indicative of the problem being with your 'interpretation'. "Genocide" is a heavy allogation to make and such extraordinary claims would require extraordinary justification, not just talking points taken from the fast-and-loose fringes of public opinion. (Not to mention that if your political rivals were as wicked as that, then you'd be risking your life/freedom to oppose them. But, hey, you apparently have the free speech to say utter nonsense with!)172.70.86.173 17:33, 7 August 2024 (UTC)

check twitter 172.70.85.152 18:23, 7 August 2024 (UTC)

OK, I checked it. Laser813 (talk) 19:20, 7 August 2024 (UTC)

I mostly haven't checked it ever since Elon "check-marked" it with that X and made it impossible to browse/lurk effectively just to see what arguments were currently happening. Probably too late to actually get myself an account, anyway. But those already there are welcome to it; even with possible diamonds in the rough, there's no sense of FOMO from me... 172.70.86.231 11:04, 8 August 2024 (UTC)

I think they're talking about the Talk, rather than the article - comment added at 16:20, and removed in the edit at 16:29 (possible it was just an edit conflict (as opposed to a conflict edit...), since the subsequent update was not small).172.68.186.128 09:39, 8 August 2024 (UTC)

Seems like an opportunity was missed to point out how many presidents on the list have exactly 6 letters in their first name...Kamala, Donald, Donald, Barack, George, George, Ronald, Gerald, Lyndon, Dwight. It may be worth mentioning? 172.70.131.153

About name shortening - a critique of the actual comic: I'm not sure about nationwide, but in his home state of Minnesota, VP Mondale -- when not called "Fritz" (which I noticed has been deleted from the table) -- was more often called "Walt" over "Walter". I remember when the state called up ol' Walt Mondale to replace the late U.S. Senator Paul Wellstone after his tragic death in a plane crash up near the Arrowhead. (I was attending U of Minn at the time; they held the public memorial service in the basketball arena not far from my apartment.) --BigMal27 / 172.70.134.216 13:19, 8 August 2024 (UTC)

"Product naming also began to simplify in the late 20th century, driven by marketing strategies that favored brevity and memorability, exemplified by Apple's iconic "iMac" and "iPhone" products (again, cf. names like "Tandy 1000", "Ford F 500" or "Little Debbie's Oatmeal Creme Pies")." This feels cherry picked and apples-to-oranges. Referring to the iMac and iPhone product names in comparison to the combined brand and product name doesn't seem like a useful way to do it. F-500 is as short visually (if not syllabically) as iMac or iPhone, and while people mostly wouldn't have referred to a "1000" like they would an iPhone, Tandy 1000 seems pretty comparable to Apple iPhone. 162.158.62.116 19:45, 8 August 2024 (UTC)

There is a slightly stronger correlation considering monosyllabic names. "George" extends the observed trend to 1980 and adds two more Presidents to the tally. Meanwhile, "JD" would no longer qualify but that race is as yet undecided. 172.68.70.135 13:05, 16 August 2024 (UTC)