In 2017, Kévin Pfeffer had promised to represent “proudly all the Kévins of France” in the National Assembly. But he had failed to bring his first name to the benches of the Palais-Bourbon for the first time. Five years later, his promise has been doubly fulfilled: the young man, elected under the banner of the National Rally in Moselle, is accompanied by another Kevin, named Mauvieux, who has become deputy (RN) for Eure.
These new first names are the symbols of the arrival of a new generation in Parliament. Alongside them, there is also a Jordan Guitton, elected RN in Aube. But also Joris Hébrard and Jorys Bovet, each with their own spelling, RN deputies respectively in Vaucluse and in Allier. Or even Ersilia Soudais, elected in Seine-et-Marne, Inaki Echaniz, successor to Jean Lassalle in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques, and even a Perceval Gaillard, in Reunion. These three new deputies belong to the Nupes and are under 35 years old.
A younger Assembly
Like those of the population, the first names of parliamentarians are now more diverse than in the past. According to our count made from the database of deputies available on the site of the National Assembly, 22 new first names of deputies (i.e. they are the first representatives at the Palais-Bourbon in bear this first name) appeared in 2022. This is not a record, this one remaining held by the Assembly elected in 2017, with 27 new first names. It is still the second highest point of the Fifth Republic. In 2012, the new first names numbered 17, against only… 3 in 2007. Today, the hegemony of Michel, Jean or Philippe over the lower house is over. The renewal of elected officials, notably favored by the emergence of new parties – such as La République en Marche five years ago – partly explains these upheavals. But one of the reasons is also in the history of French first names and the right to name your child as you wish, which ended up catching up with political personnel.
The arrival of these new surnames is explained first of all by the average age – 48.5 years – of the deputies of this legislature, the youngest that the Fifth Republic has known. It is down slightly compared to 2017 – 48.8 years -, a year of spectacular rejuvenation of the Assembly. By way of comparison, the average age of deputies was 54.6 years in 2012. Largely driven by the arrival of new elected members of the presidential majority five years ago, the wind of youth this time is to be attributed to the Nupes and the National Rally. “This testifies to the progress of the two radical poles on the far left and the far right, which have taken care, in their recruitment, to take on people who are less established in political life, as LREM had done in 2017. Hence, in particular, a certain youthfulness”, notes Olivier Rozenberg, professor at the Center for European Studies and Comparative Politics at Sciences Po. The average age of RN elected officials is thus 45.6 years, for 45.9 years for Nupes, against 49.8 in the presidential majority, and 51.2 on the right (Les Républicains and UDI).
Generation effect
The arrival of this diversity of surnames therefore comes primarily from a generational effect. The presence of a Jorys, born in 1993, is one of the best illustrations of this phenomenon. Since the law of January 8, 1993, no more constraint regulates the choice of the first name of a child. Due to a Napoleonic law, relaxed in the mid-1960s, the choice of first names was until then often restricted to those in use in different calendars, or to characters from ancient history.
The Assembly archives partly reflect this history: no Mickaël with a K (as in 2017) or Johnny and Jordan at the Palais-Bourbon in the 1960s, 1980s or 1990s. The “Jeans”, “Michèle” or “Philippe” are plethoric. The rare first names that stand out – an Adeham Saïd-Ibrahim, deputy for the Comoros in 1959, a Hafid Maloum in Algeria in 1958, a Saïfoulaye Diallo representing Guinea in 1956 – are more often vestiges of the French colonial past than a sign of the crazy originality of the parents of the last century. Steve, Rachel, Bryan or Naïma (names of deputies elected in 2022 and 2017) are sometimes not even born yet.
The law of large numbers
This expansion of the “stock” of first names at the end of the century gave pride of place to those with an Anglo-Saxon sound. Highly appreciated in the middle classes and the working classes, the latter are often viewed with suspicion by the “self-proclaimed proponents of good taste”, as Baptiste Coulmont, professor of sociology at the Ecole Normale Supérieure de Paris-Saclay, remarked. , in a recent column published in The world.
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This is particularly the case of “Kevin”, star first name of the early 1990s – 14,000 infants had been given the same first name as the star of Dancing with the wolves, Kevin Costner, in 1992. This surname was quickly ridiculed. At the end of the decade, comedian Elie Semoun had chosen him for one of the characters in his series of videos. Classifieds. Rattle voice, limited intellect, questionable style: to be called Kevin was not really desirable and did not promise a particularly brilliant destiny. “Those who bear this first name are often victims of prejudice, explains Baptiste Coulmont. But today, we find it everywhere. Even among PhD students, at Polytechnique or … at the National Assembly, in this case. is the law of large numbers.
More difficult access for the Kevins
With this number of Kevin wandering around France in the early 1990s, could we have seen them arrive in Parliament earlier? Not obvious if we measure that this first name remains socially marked. “We probably find them in a smaller proportion than what one might suppose because of their background, says Baptiste Coulmont. The parents of the Kevins are often workers or employees, which makes their access to the Assembly possible, but more difficult.
The recruitment of candidates from the National Rally has played its part in this “democratization” of access to political life. “The RN chooses more willingly in rural areas and small towns, where first names highly appreciated by popular categories predominate, deciphers Olivier Ihl, professor of historical sociology at Sciences Po Grenoble. The first names of their deputies are partly a reflection of this. .” Same thing for Nupes, which also accumulates new surnames: Idir, Rodrigo, Hendrik, Raquel, Alma, Soumya, Francesca, Frantz, Ersilia… So many first names which are also markers of a will of the political organization. “Like En Marche in 2017, the left-wing coalition wanted to include personalities representing social and cultural diversity in its candidates. It is therefore not surprising that this is also reflected in everyone’s first names”, continues the specialist.
Regional diversity, too, by force of circumstance: Inaki Echaniz, elected in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques, has a typically Basque surname. Elected in Polynesia, Témataï Le Gayic (Nupes) has a traditional first name from the archipelago. These regional particularities are not new: in 2014, the representative of Polynesia Maina Sage (member of the group Agir Ensemble) also entered her first name in the Assembly. Same thing for Annaïg Le Meur (LREM), MP for Finistère elected in 2017.
The arrival of Jade, Gabriel and Raphaël
But is a new first name enough to conclude that the National Assembly is socially diverse? For the most part, the chamber remains composed of executives and higher intellectual professions. They are in the majority or almost in all the political groups: 58% in the UDI, 63% in the Nupes, 51% in Together and 49% in the RN. Only five workers were elected out of a total of 577 deputies, which corresponds to less than 1% of the Assembly… whereas they are more than 12% in French society! These professions – as well as the intermediate categories – remain very present in the two formations RN (20%) and Nupes (15%) when they represent only 8% of LR and 7% of Together. “In these last two groups, you will more easily find traditional first names, or in vogue among executives, because these social groups are overrepresented there”, explains Olivier Ihl.
A paradoxical lesson: in 2017, the entry of new first names into the Assembly – such as Rodrigue, Annaïg or even Buon – was mainly due to the elected representatives of La République en Marche, who were 22 in this case. In 2022, there is only one new first name among the elected Macronists, carried by Mikaele Seo, neo-MP for Wallis-and-Futuna. “If the arrival of new deputies marked a renewal of personalities, it did not necessarily present any on the sociological level. Here you have one of the limits of the analysis by first name”, remarks Olivier Rozenberg. Because if they make it possible to identify major trends, it is difficult to automatically correlate surnames with a characteristic. “It is not a definitive statistical indicator, but it identifies individual trajectories, marks a difference”, concedes Baptiste Coulmont. Last year, the first names Jade and Emma for girls, or the very classic Gabriel and Raphaël for boys, were the most given to newborns. See you in 2050 to see them arrive in numbers at the Assembly?