From a NYT story about how the Tories are having trouble relating to the common man:
Many old-time Tories are leaving Parliament this year, including the unrepentantly first-class-loving Sir Nicholas. But there are more waiting in the wings. Last year, worried about how an impeccably pedigreed Tory candidate named Annunziata Rees-Mogg would go over with the hoi polloi, Mr. Cameron suggested that she might want to campaign under the name “Nancy Mogg.”
She refused, although, to be fair, another candidate, the spectacularly named Richard Grosvenor Plunkett-Ernle-Erle-Drax, dutifully “de-toffed” himself by downgrading to “Richard Drax” on campaign posters.
We don’t have this problem in Louisiana. In many parts of the Great State, local legislators are known by their nicknames. It is entirely possible that in some cases, no soul would know the solon absent his nickname. Once, I was courting my beloved, I was driving her on some back road near Plaquemine, and we passed a homemade campaign sign for a parish politician named, I kid you not, “Needlenose Fontenot.” It is likely, I explained to my puzzled suburban amour, that voters would have no idea who he was if he used his real name. Back in 2002, a Cajun dark horse in the US Senate race was one mullet-sporting “Live Wire Landry,” whose campaign platform was the charming, “Let’s drop a bomb on Saddam.” He didn’t win. There’s no justice in this world, cher.
posted March 23, 2010 at 8:17 am
Yup, the nickname is officially part of the name. I don’t know if they still do this, but Okie phone books used to include the nicknames like this:
Thomas WL Curly 123 Main St
Thompson OT Bud 234 4th St
Tolliver JF Red 345 13th St
posted March 23, 2010 at 9:18 am
I wonder if that’s a French heritage thing. It’s the same way on the reservation near where I grew up, which has a Metis culture (descendants of French fur traders and Indian wives and a language that’s a mixture of the French, English and Cree or Ojibwa tongues.) I’ve typed up election results where the winners from there are identified only by their nicknames “Chubs” (given for obvious reasons), “Jiggers” (because he was good at dancing a jig as a child), etc. I ask what the person’s real first name is so we can put the nickname in quotes and sometimes the auditor doesn’t know the real name.
Annunziata is an interesting name. Is the woman Catholic? That’s a pretty traditional Italian Catholic name. I think Nancy actually is the traditional English nickname for it, too, so Nancy probably actually is her nickname.
posted March 23, 2010 at 10:19 am
We have a local politician named “Pokey.”
posted March 23, 2010 at 10:56 am
Considering that the Tories’ only two actual policies, as far as I can tell, are bringing back foxhunting and abolishing inheritance tax for the richest 300,000 (maybe fewer) families in the UK, I think it’ll take more for them to de-toff themselves than a few shortened names.
posted March 23, 2010 at 9:51 pm
Richard Grosvenor Plunkett-Ernle-Erle-Drax
Dick Drax — I think he might have a career in the , uh, film industry,