How Republican or Democratic are names?

[GrapeApes]

As far as we can tell, the No. 1 perk of writing for The Washington Post isn't the parties you're invited to or the celebrities you meet — though this may be because invitations addressed to the resident data dork seem to get lost in the mail.

No, the top perquisite in our view is access to the voter file, a compendium of 212 million registered voters.

The Post's voter file is compiled by L2, a data firm founded by its two eponymous Ls, Lourene and Lindy Criddle, in the mid-1970s. Within L2, dozens of engineers hammer away on secure servers to update, clean and standardize public voter records bought from the states. Such voter rolls, constructed under the auspices of the 1993 Motor Voter Act and the 2002 Help America Vote Act, aim to increase voter participation and prevent voter fraud.

These files, buttressed by data from other sources, have proved phenomenally popular among political campaigns from school boards on up, explaining how all those canvassers and flier-mailers get your address. The Post licenses them for election modeling and polling.

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2024/09/13/popular-names-republican-democrat/?pwapi_token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJyZWFzb24iOiJnaWZ0IiwibmJmIjoxNzI2MjAwMDAwLCJpc3MiOiJzdWJzY3JpcHRpb25zIiwiZXhwIjoxNzI3NTgyMzk5LCJpYXQiOjE3MjYyMDAwMDAsImp0aSI6IjQzOGUyNGJiLTI5ZjItNDI0Mi04MDg5LTQ0MGQ5YzRkOTQwZiIsInVybCI6Imh0dHBzOi8vd3d3Lndhc2hpbmd0b25wb3N0LmNvbS9idXNpbmVzcy8yMDI0LzA5LzEzL3BvcHVsYXItbmFtZXMtcmVwdWJsaWNhbi1kZW1vY3JhdC8ifQ.ziFAAWcjIO0Af8IMsMfx-mj7FD_466MHErSEW7XGG4o

Good to see me and my fellow MDs represented

 

[Apollo]

I actually named my Pokemon characters MD for the D/P and B/W games back in the day, so shout out to MD.

 

[HStallion]

A lot of stereotypical stripper names showing up in the conservative ladies section.

 

[Royalan]

LMAO @ so many left leaning names being obviously Black

 

[Isilia]

I'm not on either list. I'm an enlightened centrist.

Ugh.

 

[Ashes of Dreams]

Yeah... you know, my initial reaction upon reading the thread title was to roll my eyes because generalizations suck. But then actually looking at the list of names and what this is saying is pretty obvious. Names popular amongst people of color tend to be left-leaning. Names popular amongst southern white people tend to be right-leaning. Yeah, that checks out.

 

[Royalan]

I dated a Demetrius.

He was a fun time.

 

[Switters]

We been knowing Jolene a back biting no business born insecure junkyard motherfucker. That's just a fact.

 

[Futureman]

Where's TOPHER?

 

[Pop-O-Matic]

Where's TOPHER?

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In "Enlightened Centrist"

 

[Dark Knight]

 

[ClickyCal']

 

[JEH]

Yeah right leaning names check out.

 

[GrantDaNasty]

Codys catching more Ls.

 

[DanarchyReigns]

Oh no, I've got a centrist name!

Interesting study. It is telling that the left-leaning names are PoC, while the right-leaning names are found in news articles about Florida Man/Woman.

 

[MilkBeard]

My name's on the right-leaning list, so I'm glad to break the trend. My dad, who named me, definitely is right-leaning so I can see the line of thinking I guess

 

[Zombegoast]

I had my suspicions on people named "Scott"

 

[Hollywood Duo]

Reagan being right leaning name is a bit on the nose

 

[ReginaldXIV]

Shoutouts to all the Willies of the world.

 

[KoopaTheCasual]

LMAO @ so many left leaning names being obviously Black

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.

 

[pioneer]

LMAO @ so many left leaning names being obviously Black

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I noticed this too, and knowing Black women have voted 90%+ dem in at least the last 4 presidential elections I wish we could drill in further - like how many total Shaniquas voted for Trump? Or the opposite with white men - how many Coltons voted Biden?

 

[Pop-O-Matic]

Shoutouts to all the Willies of the world.

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There's always a few outliers, though. Like this Willie giving a big standard GOP stump speech:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWXURIm5dLk

 

[lunarworks]

Those right-leaning male youth names are basically a junior hockey team.

 

[AvianAviator]

A lot of stereotypical stripper names showing up in the conservative ladies section.

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See I thought there were a lot of r/tragedeigh names in there

 

[Foot]

I expected better from you, Gayla.

 

[Landy828]

Is there a separate link to the list?

98% chance my last name isn't in it.

 

[El Bombastico]

Tanner and Ty being conservative names is the least surprising thing ever.

 

[WedgeX]

Reagan being right leaning name is a bit on the nose

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You mean like Roosevelt being left leaning? lol

 

[.exe]

I'll make sure not to associate with the Brock Millers of the world.

 

[BlackSalad]

"Heath, Clint, Tanner, Cody"

Can confirm, I lived in a town of 10k and most boys names consisted of two of those four

 

[Hollywood Duo]

You mean like Roosevelt being left leaning? lol

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Sort of but that was a very popular black name back in the day so I think it's more the left leaning list is full of popular black names for that generation than anything

 

[Herne]

I've seen a disturbing number of Irish-descended names on the right side. I hope these people never visit Ireland, which these days is a liberal hellhole going by their definition.

 

[cameron]

 

[DrFunk]

All Earnestine and Willy's are in church right now

 

[CloudWolf]

MD? How is that a name?

EDIT: Oh it's short for Muhammed? I guess Americans don't like to call their kids that because of islamophobia or something?

 

[xendless]

If I was called Bailee Karlee or Kylee I'd be right wing too

 

[poptire]

Didn't realize the name Cotton had come back in style with Southern conservatives. Lol isn't that the dad from King of the Hill

 

[TaySan]

Doubt my last name is on there

 

[Yoshimitsu126]

Conservative are naming their daughter Reagan? I guess they will name them Trump in the future.

 

[Burly]

He's a problem

 

[Ruck]

yeah, nothing about the right leaning list surprises me lol

 

[Squarehard]

Not a single Karen on either list.

Disappoint!

 

[Booshka]

Brayden, Colt, Tanner and Brock the type of dudes to throw a full can a beer at me from their Cummins Diesel while I am cycling on the road.

 

[uncredited male mk2]

Team no stereotypes taking a beating right now.

 

[UraMallas]

Hell, yeah. My name shows up on the most liberal names.

 

[StopMakingSense]

The left leaning list is an interesting mapping of the most popular black names across generations.

 

[Gr8one]

.

 

[sfedai0]

And I will continue to side eye and judge the whole list of right leaning names.

 

[Kyrios]

Jesus Christ at those right leaning names lol I immediately imagined trucker hats and camo cargo shorts reading through that list.

 

[atamize]

View: https://youtu.be/QDYF_nu2I4M