Verdant Labs has crunched the federal political donation data by first names. Here are the first names most biased toward each of the Democratic candidates:
Names by bias toward Bernie Sanders
Below: The number of individuals with each name who contributed to this candidate vs. any of the top 5 candidates. Includes only names with at least 40 individuals. Excludes the candidates themselves.
| Name |
Sanders |
Any |
% |
| Karl |
34 |
71 |
47.9% |
| Ian |
34 |
75 |
45.3% |
| Aaron |
67 |
154 |
43.5% |
| Jacob |
33 |
81 |
40.7% |
| Sean |
72 |
177 |
40.7% |
| Luke |
17 |
42 |
40.5% |
| Zachary |
31 |
77 |
40.3% |
| Evan |
35 |
90 |
38.9% |
| Ryan |
67 |
176 |
38.1% |
| Tyler |
20 |
53 |
37.7% |
In other words, 71 guys named Karl have donated to current candidates and 34 of the Karls donated to Bernie. Coincidence? I’m reminded of Sir Francis Galton’s protege Carl Pearson, the statistician and eugenicist, who changed his name to Karl Pearson in honor of you know who.
Otherwise, Bernie Bros really do have Bro names. Where’s Lucas?
Names by bias toward Hillary Clinton
Below: The number of individuals with each name who contributed to this candidate vs. any of the top 5 candidates. Includes only names with at least 40 individuals. Excludes the candidates themselves.
| Name |
Clinton |
Any |
% |
| Mohammad |
36 |
42 |
85.7% |
| Liz |
43 |
51 |
84.3% |
| Juan |
53 |
63 |
84.1% |
| Courtney |
53 |
64 |
82.8% |
| Meredith |
55 |
67 |
82.1% |
| Stacey |
55 |
67 |
82.1% |
| Alexandra |
84 |
103 |
81.6% |
| Carmen |
39 |
48 |
81.3% |
| Katie |
60 |
74 |
81.1% |
| Hilary |
33 |
41 |
80.5% |
I would think that people named “Hilary” would hold a grudge against Hillary for increasing the rate at which their names get misspelled. But, I guess not.
And now highest median donors by name:
Names with high donation medians
Below: Per name, the median of per-individual median amounts donated. Includes only names with at least 40 individuals. Excludes the candidates themselves.
| Name |
Median donation |
| Akram |
$1000 |
| Chaim |
$1000 |
| Chana |
$1000 |
| Dov |
$1000 |
| Judah |
$1000 |
| Mayer |
$1000 |
| Mendel |
$1000 |
| Mordechai |
$1000 |
| Moshe |
$1000 |
| Murat |
$1000 |
| Navin |
$1000 |
| Rivka |
$1000 |
| Shlomo |
$1000 |
| Shoshana |
$1000 |
| Vishal |
$1000 |
| Yehuda |
$1000 |
| Javad |
$950 |
| Ling |
$875 |
| Meir |
$875 |
| San |
$875 |
| Zvi |
$850 |
| Deedee |
$825 |
| Jian |
$750 |
| Kyung |
$750 |
| Mehmet |
$750 |
People with normal American names — except
Deedee — don’t really get the concept of being generous toward politicians. In contrast, other cultures seem to find American politicians to be bargains.
Since 1996, the most Republican-leaning first names among common American names are, in order:
- Duane
- Billy
- Brent
- Chad
- Dale
- Kirk
- Kent
- Donald
- Dick
- Don
- Glen
- Earl
- Jerry
- Wayne
- Dean
- Ray
- Jimmy
- Bradley
The most common Democratic-leaning first names among common boys names are:
- Alex
- Aaron
- Benjamin
- Laurence
- Arnold
- Marc
- Josh
- Carlos
- Leslie
- Adam
- Juan
- Joshua
- Jonathan
- Jose
- Luis
- Ian
This kind of stuff is useful if you are a novelist picking names for characters, although it’s not super-biased in real life. Ian is the most Democratic common boys name, and Ians go 66-34 for Democrats when it comes to donating. Alexes go 56-44 Democratic.
The most Republican name, Duane, goes GOP 67% of the time, while Bradley is 60-40 Republican.
Among common girls names, Kate is by the most Democratic donating, with 75% of Kates donating to the Ds rather than the Rs. Second place is Rachel at 69% Democratic. My off the top of the head theory is that women who call themselves Kate instead of Katherine, Kathleen, Kathy, etc., tend to be more feminist.
[Comment at Unz.com.]
