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Thomas, Michael, Christian: These are the most common given names of German politicians

2021-09-18T10:04:34.330Z


125 times Michael, 120 times Thomas - and only one Yasemin: If you look at the names and professions of the 6,211 candidates for the federal election, you will learn a lot about this country.


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There are 24 potential chancellor names on the electoral lists: two Annalenas, 14 Olafs and eight Armins

Photo: Ralf Mohr / plainpicture

6,211 candidates want to be elected to the German Bundestag next week - and the white, slightly grayed man with an inconspicuous first name dominates not only in perception: Michael (125 candidates have this beautiful name), Thomas (120), Andreas (99), Christian (92) and Stefan (77) are the most frequent names on the electoral lists.

On average, they are around 50 years old, matching the name.

The first first names of foreign origin can be found in position 342 - three Mohamads and Erkans each have been lined up, as well as three Deryas. 24 women's names can be found in the first 100 places, the most common with 33 candidates each being Susanne and Sabine. Somewhat more colorful names such as Yasemin, Zoe or Slaviša only appear once. The job site Indeed has sorted the candidates available for election according to age, occupation and first name on the website of the Federal Returning Officer, an offer from the Federal Statistical Office.

According to the evaluation, there are also clear priorities in the professions: There are many lawyers, salaried employees and entrepreneurs among the men, while salaried employees, teachers and lawyers top the list among women, who will be standing for election in 2024.

In fourth place: at least 30 nurses, whose working conditions in the pandemic were repeatedly a political issue.

17 housewives also want to become MPs.

Read here how the German Bundestag is currently still organized by occupation.

Students are represented far more numerically than all other professions: 386 stand for election, that is more than six percent of all candidates.

Most of them, 55 each, are active in the Greens and the satirical party »Die Party«, followed by Volt

(47), Die Linke (36) and the FDP (26). CDU and SPD each send 14 students into the race for parliament. But the other side of the age spectrum is also well represented: 153 pensioners are running for the Bundestag. Most of the retirees, namely 26, are sent into the race by the communist DKP, followed by the MLPD (18) and the NPD (12). The age of the old white man in politics does not seem to be over yet: The average age of all eligible persons is around 53 years, more than two thirds are male. The youngest candidate has Volt (average age 33 years), the Greens 42 years (SPD 44, CDU 46 years).

But there is also room for individualism: 884 people have no first name cousin among the competitors - Adonis, Cornell-Anette and Esra-Leon only appear once each.

There are 24 potential chancellor names: two Annalenas, 14 Olafs and eight Armins.

Despite the much criticized academic dominance, there are also many professions in the list of candidates that are only represented once - including train driver, marriage counselor, skilled worker, track construction, midwife and dog trainer.

A total of 6,211 people will run for the federal election on September 26, 2021, including 2,024 women.

Source: spiegel

All business articles on 2021-09-18

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