Why do we call Clinton by her first name, but Donald by his last?

[White Trash]

That's true as well, but mostly it's because the name Clinton is already taken.  It's the same reason we always have to say Q when we talk about the sixth president.  Surely his neighbors know him as John Adams, but the name John Adams was already taken.  Same goes for W.  The next Obama will have to find a sobriquet other than Obama.

We have not had a president Trump yet so that name is up for grabs. 

If Johnson wins it's really important to come up with something else, because we have had two of them already.  (Note that the second one was invariably known as "LBJ" rather than "Johnson.") 

I suggest Aleppo. 
 

I've never heard someone refer to John Quincy Adams as Q. I'll give you W, or "Dubya", though.

[angus]

I think you missed my point.  

Of course you haven't heard anyone refer to John Quincy Adams as Q.  That name is already taken by one of Gene Roddenberry's most beloved characters.  (Although to be fair it had already been used by one of Ian Fleming's characters, but that's in a different genre so it's acceptable.)

The point I was making is that we have never heard anyone refer to John Quincy Adams as John Adams.  We have heard John Q Adams or John Quincy Adams.

Similarly Bush 43 is never just Bush or George Bush.  He is Bush 43 or Dubya or W or GW Bush, even though his folks just call him George and his teachers surely just called him George Bush.

This is why Clinton can't just be Clinton.  She must be called Rodham Clinton or HRC or Hillary or some other such sobriquet.

[ursulahx]

Similarly Bush 43 is never just Bush or George Bush.

Sorry to contradict, but I've often heard him referred to as both of these. If anything, it's his father who is no longer being called plain "George Bush".

[White Trash]

I think you missed my point.  

Of course you haven't heard anyone refer to John Quincy Adams as Q.  That name is already taken by one of Gene Roddenberry's most beloved characters.  (Although to be fair it had already been used by one of Ian Fleming's characters, but that's in a different genre so it's acceptable.)

The point I was making is that we have never heard anyone refer to John Quincy Adams as John Adams.  We have heard John Q Adams or John Quincy Adams.

Similarly Bush 43 is never just Bush or George Bush.  He is Bush 43 or Dubya or W or GW Bush, even though his folks just call him George and his teachers surely just called him George Bush.

This is why Clinton can't just be Clinton.  She must be called Rodham Clinton or HRC or Hillary or some other such sobriquet.

Fair enough.

[Mapleman]

I don't think there has been any grave lack of consistency when it comes to the overall reference of political candidates in this election. That said, it is often necessary to refer to Hillary Clinton with her first name so as to not allow her to be confused with Bill Clinton. The same can be said for Justin Trudeau so he is not to be confused with his father Pierre Trudeau.

[Mr. Morden]

When there's no doubt as to which Clinton is being referred to (and there usually isn't), I refer to Hillary Clinton as "Clinton", just as I refer to Donald Trump as "Trump".

I'll call her Hillary when I start calling him Donald.

I'd be slow to attribute it to sexism because here in the UK there's no apparent move to refer to our new Prime Minister as "Theresa", just as Merkel is rarely referred to as Angela. And Thatcher was very often referred to by her surname, just as Blair was sometimes referred to as "Tony".

I feel the trend is definitely there. Merkel gets called Angie a fair bit, just like Thatcher got called Maggie a lot of the time. Female politicians in Sweden definitely get referred to by first name a lot more. There are exceptions, of course, but I do think it's a subconscious form of sexism.

I basically agree, though I think the Hillary Clinton case is somewhat different from the other examples, in that Clinton herself has used "Hillary" in her campaign branding since the beginning of her political career, as far as I can tell.  So in her case, it seems like more of her own choice, to separate herself from her husband.

That said, as I speculated 9 years ago:

https://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=66215.0

this could change once she's actually elected president, as it sounds awkward to refer to someone as "President Hillary".  So "President Clinton" will probably be the default.  That said, there'll still be some people using just "Hillary".

[DS0816]

This has always bugged me... Whenever people use one name to refer to Hillary Clinton, they nearly always use her first name, while with Trump it's virtually the exact opposite. What is the rationale behind this?

My guess: Immediate recognition.

It’s kind of like the first-name-only immediate recognition of singers over the past several decades: Elvis, Cher, Prince, Madonna, Bono, et al.

It’s a lot easier to label Donald Trump as Trump because it gets to people right away. It is a lot easier to go with Hillary rather than Clinton because that was more recognized with her husband than with her.

[Coolface Sock #42069]

That's true as well, but mostly it's because the name Clinton is already taken.  It's the same reason we always have to say Q when we talk about the sixth president.  Surely his neighbors know him as John Adams, but the name John Adams was already taken.  Same goes for W.  The next Obama will have to find a sobriquet other than Obama.

We have not had a president Trump yet so that name is up for grabs. 

If Johnson wins it's really important to come up with something else, because we have had two of them already.  (Note that the second one was invariably known as "LBJ" rather than "Johnson.") 

I suggest Aleppo. 
 

I'm pretty sure we'll be calling him "The Johnson". #FeelTheJohnson

[Hatman 🍁]

"Clinton" is her slave name.

[nclib]

Certainly, part of the issue with Hillary, is that Clinton is associated with ex-Pres. Bill Clinton. Though probably if/when she's elected, she'll just be President Clinton, and we'll all know that's referring to her.

Though sexism is certainly part of it. Female politicians are definitely more likely to be referred to by their first names, than men are. Even on this forum, this is somewhat true.

[BaldEagle1991]

(Note that the second one was invariably known as "LBJ" rather than "Johnson.") 

Now LBJ is an initials that is now shared as a nickname for basketball player LeBron James.

[cMac36]

All of Hillary's campaign signs (2000, 2006, 2008, 2016) have said "Hillary" as opposed to "Clinton" as far as I know.  It is in part her marketing decision.

[Coolface Sock #42069]

Certainly, part of the issue with Hillary, is that Clinton is associated with ex-Pres. Bill Clinton. Though probably if/when she's elected, she'll just be President Clinton, and we'll all know that's referring to her.

Though sexism is certainly part of it. Female politicians are definitely more likely to be referred to by their first names, than men are. Even on this forum, this is somewhat true.

Female politicians are more likely to emphasize the fact that they're women by putting their first names on their campaign signs. I actually can't think of a female candidate for office who didn't do this.

[ursulahx]

I actually can't think of a female candidate for office who didn't do this.

Maybe in the US, but several in Europe haven't.

[Coolface Sock #42069]

I actually can't think of a female candidate for office who didn't do this.

Maybe in the US, but several in Europe haven't.

I'm talking about the US. I just think it's intellectually lazy to automatically call something like this sexist or say "some of it must be sexist".

[trebor204]

If I recall, Canada had a similar issues during the last election on using First and Last names

The 3 main federal leaders were
Stephen HARPER
Tom MULCAIR
and
JUSTIN Trudeau.

In Justin, his father was a former Prime Minister.

[Wisconsin+17]

Because Ivanka isn't running?

[‼realJohnEwards‼]

Because Ivanka isn't running?

I must have missed Bill's announcement

[OSR stands with Israel]

This has always bugged me... Whenever people use one name to refer to Hillary Clinton, they nearly always use her first name, while with Trump it's virtually the exact opposite. What is the rationale behind this?

Cause when people think about Clinton they think about Bill not
Hillary

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

When people think of women, they call by their first name.

[Coolface Sock #42069]

When people think of women, they call by their first name.

So why was the other major Democratic candidate most commonly referred to as Bernie instead of "Sanders", then?

[Mr. Morden]

When people think of women, they call by their first name.

So everybody calls Pelosi "Nancy" and everybody calls Palin "Sarah"?

[Mr. Morden]

This forum is like 95% male, so there's your answer.

This forum's one of the few places where there are some people who call her Clinton.  Most of the rest of humanity seems to go with "Hillary".

[Averroës Nix]

I prefer "HRC," in the tradition of JFK, LBJ, FDR, etc. Choice of first or last name is context-dependent - I try to default to Clinton when there's no chance of ambiguity between her and Bill, and I try to use Hillary mostly in the context of other first names. For instance, both she and Bernie Sanders used their first names more frequently throughout the primaries.

My fussing aside, I think that most people default to Hillary because that's what they hear in the news, see on her campaign gear, and hear from her surrogates. And her first name looms large because we have a recent president with the same last nane, which seems trivial but apparently needs to be mentioned to people grousing about this being a reflection of sexism.

(There are so many examples of sexism affecting Clinton's campaign in obvious and harmful ways that I find the impulse to describe this inanity in those terms especially confusing.)