Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley responded to Vivek Ramaswamy using her Indian name in an attack posted on his website.
“WRONG. Keep lying, Namrata (sic) Randhawa. The desperation is showing,” the post read before it was updated.
Though Haley is of Indian descent (like Ramaswamy), her legal middle name is Nikki and she adopted her husband’s surname Haley after the two married in 1996. Her full birth name is Nimarata Nikki Randhawa. In 2021, USA Today published a defense of Nikki Haley’s name amid attacks that she somehow “whitewashed” it to get ahead in politics:
Haley’s use of her middle name as a first name predates her political career. Haley has gone by “Nikki” ever since she was born, Haley spokesperson Chaney Denton told USA TODAY.
A 2010 Roll Call article echoed this, noting she was known as Nikki throughout high school even though her yearbook photo listed her full name: “Nimarata Nikki Randhawa.”
While it’s a common nickname for women named “Nichole” in the United States, “Nikki” is also a common Punjabi name, the region in India her parents migrated from.
“I’m not going to get into the childish name-calling or whatever, making fun of my name that he’s doing,” Haley told Fox News. “I mean, he of all people should know better than that. But I’ve given up on him knowing better than anything at this point.”
“I think we saw the childish, demeaning side of him onstage. I think he’s carrying that out whether it’s on the website or otherwise, but I have no use for it,” she continued.
A spokesperson for the Ramaswamy campaign denied that the post had any intention of making fun of her name. “How is he making fun of her name? His name is Vivek Ramaswamy,” the spokesperson said.
“I just can’t get over team Vivek attacking Nikki Haley’s name. This attack usually comes from lunatics (on the left or right) accusing her of whitewashing her identity and hiding her heritage. (Who are too stupid to google it and realize Nikki is her actual birth name),” he wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.
I just can’t get over team Vivek attacking Nikki Haley’s name.
This attack usually comes from lunatics (on the left or right) accusing her of whitewashing her identity and hiding her heritage. (Who are too stupid to google it and realize Nikki is her actual birth name) https://t.co/U6LNmqQxzu
— Matt Whitlock (@mattdizwhitlock) August 28, 2023
The references to @NikkiHaley's maiden name or first name as pejoratives are bewildering. She's a married woman — her last name is Haley. Nikki is an extremely common name in Punjabi culture – and it's her middle name. Sad to see this from an Indian-American, @VivekGRamaswamy. https://t.co/kT6LBcerr3
— Saat Alety (@SaatAlety) August 28, 2023
