The preferred name of candidates for elective office in Brazil

Abstract

This article aims to analyze the preferred names of candidates for elective office in Brazilian elections. As an anthroponymic category, the preferred name corresponds to the name by which the transgender person identifies him- or herself and is socially recognized (Brasil, 2016; Amaral & Seide, 2020). The analysis is based on theoretical assumptions of Socio-Onomastics, which seeks to relate linguistic aspects of proper names to social factors (Ainiala, 2016; Ainiala & Östman, 2017). Data was extracted from the Portal de dados abertos of the Superior Electoral Court, especially from spreadsheets with data from candidates for the 2018 general elections and 2020 municipal elections. As a result, it is observed that the preferred name has innovative graphic properties and tends to have a smaller extension than other anthroponyms of the Brazilian anthroponymic system. In addition, it is attested that, in certain cases, the preferred name, as an anthroponym generally chosen by the bearers themselves, presents identity traits and marks related to their social context.