Posted on: Friday, November 19, 2004

Try fitting 'Hannema-nn' here

By Lee Cataluna
Advertiser Columnist

We may call them Linda, Ben, Jeremy, Dan, Dan, Neil and Ed during dinner table debates and water-cooler rants, but you never read that in the headlines. It's always Lingle, Cayetano, Harris, Inouye, Akaka, Abercrombie and Case, or their respective titles.

Then there's Mayor-elect Muliufi Francis Hannemann, Honolulu's first first-name public official since Sparky.

On the day after the general election, the headline in the afternoon paper read "Bush re-elected; Mufi pulls upset." Last Sunday, the left-hand rail of the front page announced "Mufi's Team for Transition."

There are a number of theories about why we're calling the mayor-elect by his first name.

It can be argued that Hannemann himself started it. There were the "Got Mufi" bumper stickers. He campaigned as a first-name candidate. It stuck.

Also, Hannemann is a long last name and difficult to squeeze into headlines. Newspapers found it easier to fit Ike, JFK and LBJ on the line. And, yes, Schwarzenegger is at times referred to in news articles as Arnold.

Further, the name Mufi instantly calls to mind the image of the man. Hannemann himself says, "In life, you get a lot of Johns, a lot of Dans, a lot of Toms, but I don't think anybody is going to ever meet another Mufi. There can only be one person you're talking about."

Sports stars are often referred to by their first name by the media: Kobe, Shaq, Serena, Tiger. "Mufi" is actually a nickname from Hannemann's days as a high school athlete. His parents never called him that; always Muliufi, the name chosen for him after his maternal great-grandfather, Chief Muliufi Soliai, or sometimes Ufi for short.

There are other theories that pick apart the power play of calling someone in a position of respect by their informal name.

Is it because Mufi is not an English name? If the mayor-elect's name were Robert Hannemann, would the headline read "Bob pulls upset"? Does it have to do with being a minority? Let's hope that's not even minimally at play here; but the only way to make sure it isn't is to dare to ask the question.

Hannemann shares this distinction with the beloved late U.S. Sen. Spark Masayuki Matsunaga, who was referred to in news headlines as Spark or Sparky — never with any pejorative tone, always with an air of respect and fond familiarity.

As for Mayor-elect Hannemann, he thinks being on a first-name basis with Honolulu is a good thing: "As far as I'm concerned, that's fine. I think whatever makes people comfortable about approaching me and makes them feel that I'm accessible, I'm OK with that."

Of course, after his inauguration, Hannemann will simply be called "mayor," which fits those squeezy headlines quite well.

Lee Cataluna's column runs Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Reach her at 535-8172 or lcataluna@honoluluadvertiser.com.