WASHINGTON – Rich Buttigieg’s last name earned him nothing but ridicule for most of his life.

“I’ve been teased – Buttergig, Butterballs – all of those things,” said the 69-year-old retiree from Dearborn Heights, Mich. “It made me tougher and it made me defensive.”

But the presidential campaign of Democrat Pete Buttigieg – the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, and a fellow Maltese-American – has been a "transformation."

“It’s been the wildest experience,” Rich Buttigieg said. "I’ve been treated with more respect.”

He’s not alone.

Some of the just over 200 Buttigiegs who live in the United States now find it easier to make restaurant reservations, frequently get asked if they're related to the presidential candidate and are thrilled at seeing their unusual last name on TV.

On the other hand, at least one Buttigieg – who is not a fan of the former mayor – says the campaign hasn't changed things for him. And others are supporting President Donald Trump.

There's also disagreement over how to pronounce the surname, even among supporters.

“According to my father, it’s pronounced 'Smith,’” joked Mike Buttigieg, a 40-year-old paramedic from upstate New York who was immediately dubbed “Butters” when he showed up for his first job.

Mike has always pronounced it “BUTTA-gig,” though his grandmother would say "BYOOT-a-jeige" and the candidate's supporters chant “Boot-Edge-Edge” at his rallies.

After the presidential campaign gained national prominence, Mike Buttigieg started using the former mayor's pronunciation when in public or making reservations because people now know what he’s saying.

“Exactly what I’ve been doing too,” said Rich Buttigieg, who has always pronounced his name “BUDDY-gig,” as in: “Hi buddy. Let’s go to a gig.”

Paul Buttigieg, a retired auto worker living in Ypsilanti, Mich., who previously went by “BUTTA-gig,” will likewise sometimes uses the candidate’s version.

“It depends on who I’m trying to impress,” he said. “I actually like it better than the way I pronounce my name.”

A common name in Malta

At least 216 Buttigiegs were listed in the 2010 Census as living in the United States. There were 2.4 million Smiths, the most common name, and nearly 1.2 million Garcias, the sixth-most common.

But while rare here, Buttigieg is common in the small Mediterranean nation of Malta, located between Sicily and north Africa.

“If you go over there and you go into a crowded diner and yell 'Hey, Buttigieg!’ a bunch of people will turn around,” Buttigieg recently told voters in a New Hampshire diner.

Anton Buttigieg – a neighbor of the candidate's Maltese family but no relation – was president of Malta in the late 1970s, the same period when the candidate's father, Joseph Buttigieg, migrated to the United Sates to earn his Ph.D. Joseph later became a naturalized U.S. citizen and taught English at the University of Notre Dame.

When Joseph Buttigieg died last year, Malta posthumously awarded him its highest civilian honor for his scholarly achievements. Malta Today’s coverage of the honor noted: “His son, Pete, defamiliarized in the US through his 'unpronounceable’ surname, is running for US president.”

When Pete launched his campaign, The Malta Independent shared a video from “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” of Americans trying to pronounce the name – and guessing what it means.

Lord of the poultry

No, it doesn’t refer to a “gang of butts” as one woman suggested. It roughly translates to “lord of the poultry” or “owner of the chickens.” The family crest portrays a rooster on a barrel underneath a six-pointed star.

“I didn’t know that,” said Paul Buttigieg, of Ypsilanti. “I do like chicken.”

Emigration to the United States from Malta, while still comparatively small, surged after World War II. Many followed the path of the Maltese immigrants who had been drawn to Detroit’s auto industry after the first World War. While there was a large enough population of Maltese in the Detroit area to have their own church and social clubs, the Buttigieg name still stood out.

“As kids, we were embarrassed to say it the right way,” said Lisa Buttigieg, a Lansing, Mich., resident who grew up in Detroit hearing, “There goes the Butt family.”

Now, however, although a credit card she recently received called her “Buttigreg,” the correct spelling on her name tag turned heads at a recent work conference. Lisa, an administrative assistant with the Michigan Library Association, was asked multiple times if she’s related to Pete, a possibility she’s trying to pursue with her half brother who lives in Malta.

“I am proud of my heritage and my upbringing. I always was," she said. “And it just is a little solidified that someone with that name is actually running with his name and not changing it."

From Buddha-judge to Boot-edge-edge

Gary Hart, who ran for president in 1988, was born Gary Hartpence. President Ulysses Grant's given first name was Hiram.

Pete Buttigieg did get told in high school – where his gym teacher called him “Buttman” – that he would have to change his name if he planned on becoming president. When he joined the Navy Reserve, his name was initially misspelled on his camouflage uniform.

“Now. Who in the hell is Lieutenant … Buttinger?” a commanding officer barked during his pre-deployment training for Afghanistan.

Buttigieg spent half a day trying to render it phonetically for voters when he first ran for office, an unsuccessful bid for Indiana state treasurer in 2010. He settled on “Buddha-judge.” But he’s since gone with “Boot-edge-edge” to make it closer to how his father pronounced it.

“I think a Maltese purist would still say it’s not quite right,” he told reporters traveling on his bus last fall.

They would probably say “buh-tih-JEHJ” because the “ie” is derived from the Arabic double A, explained Buttigieg, a polyglot whose mother, Anne Montgomery, is a retired linguist professor. “It’s arguably a dialect of north African Arabic with a kind of European superstructure,” Pete said of Maltese, a Semitic language.

Locked in on Buttigieg

Buttigieg had the opportunity to ditch the name when he married Chasten Glezman in 2018.

“But I’m pretty locked in on my last name,” he said. “It’s good. It’s my father’s name. Nothing else marks me off as Maltese American.”

Instead, Chasten Glezman became Chasten Buttigieg so that the children the couple hope to have will share both parents’ name.

That’s despite the fact that social science research suggests that the more “phonologically fluent” a name is, the more people like it, said Cindy Kam, a political science professor at Vanderbilt University.

Stock ticker names that are easy to pronounce do better than those that aren’t. The names of drugs that are hard to pronounce seem riskier than smoother-sounding names.

“Buttigieg certainly falls into that less phonologically fluent category,” Kam said.

Trump: 'Nobody can pronounce it'

But, in good news for Buttigieg, one research paper showed that the political handicap of a difficult name only exists when people don’t know much about the candidates. Given more information, Kam said, the trickiness of a name no longer mattered.

That doesn’t mean, however, that Buttigieg’s name isn’t still a target.

“And then you have Buttigieg. Buttigieg. Boot-edge-edge. Nobody can pronounce it,” Trump said at a recent rally. “Nobody has any idea how the hell to say his name.”

Despite such comments, Trump has received campaign contributions from Buttigiegs in Florida, disclosure reports show. They could not be reached for comment.

But John Buttigieg, a retired auto worker from Van Buren, Mich., related that he’s no fan of the candidate who shares his surname.

“I don’t like the guy anyway,” John Buttigieg said. “Not my type.”

In it not just for the T-shirts

Other Buttigiegs – besides buying “Boot-Edge-Edge” tote bags or T-shirts – are actively supporting the campaign.

It was the name that got Mike Buttigieg to pay attention, but it was Pete’s policies and persona that convinced the paramedic to get involved in a political campaign for the first time.

Still, when Mike showed up at a Panera this month to pick up the signature-collecting materials needed to get Buttigieg on the ballot in New York, the Buttigieg campaign workers expressed surprise when he gave his name.

“Oh! You’re real!” one told him. “We weren’t quite sure if somebody was pulling our leg and just wouldn’t show up.”

Mike is shocked that Buttigieg has advanced as far as he has in the campaign given his name. And he can even imagine the “really cool” possibility that a Buttigieg could become president.

“The more that the name can get out there, and the less I have to repronounce everything on the phone,” Mike Buttigieg said, “it’s fantastic.”

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Contributing: Mark Nichols, USA TODAY, and Todd Spangler, Detroit Free Press.