wtf is up with government agencies with names?

May 25, 2005 12:05 PM

OK, I know of Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, and Sallie Mae. I understand that the names come from the initials of the corporations, but where did the names come from, and how many of these "named government companies" are there? And why are some girls and some boys? &c.
posted by taumeson to Society & Culture (8 answers total)

As far as "government companies", don't forget the biggest one: The Federal Reserve Bank.
posted by knave at 12:12 PM on May 25, 2005

Best answer: The other named one is "Ginnie Mae" (Government National Mortgage Association).
posted by smackfu at 12:31 PM on May 25, 2005

Fannie Mae is the oldest of the institutions, and the nickname predates the existence of the others. A Mar 23, 1950 NYTimes headlines reads: "GOVERNMENT ENDS MORTGAGE BUYING; Fannie Mae' Uses Up Fund of $2,500,000,000 Provided by Congress for Purpose". If they used it in a headline, it had to be a common term at the time. The others presumably got appropriately matching nicknames when they were founded in the late 60's.

Maybe someone with some serious database access can find the real first print reference.
posted by smackfu at 12:50 PM on May 25, 2005

Lexis-Nexis access to the Times only goes back as far as 1980, so it would have to be a really serious database.
posted by grouse at 1:09 PM on May 25, 2005

Working in a Government agency with hundreds of acronyms, I can tell you that it just sort of happens organically. GNMA? Somebody looks at it and says "Genie Ma? No, that won't work, how 'bout Ginny Mae?"

We had a reorganization a few years back and Defense Contract Management Command (DCMC, no real possibilities there) became Defense Contract Management Area of Operations. This became dick-mayo. That didn't last too long as it was subsequently renamed.
posted by fixedgear at 1:25 PM on May 25, 2005

Best answer: Ginnie Mae is still owned by the government - Fannie and Freddie are government-sponsored enterprises, not government agencies. All 3 of them do effectively the exact same thing, except GNMA only does FHA, VA and RHS mortgages - so their debt has the full faith and credit of the US gov't. Sallie Mae is now a private corporation - no longer a GSE)

There are 5 government sponsored enterprises right now. Fannie, Freddie, plus:
Farmer Mac (Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corp - NYSE: AGM)
Federal Farm Credit System
Federal Home Loan Banks

Now defunct, and set up for the S&L bailout: Resolution Funding Corporation (REFCORP). And probably a few others that I don't know about.

There are other government agencies that do very private company-like stuff, but are still actually part of the government. GNMA is one of these, so is the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (recently in the news for the United Airlines turning over their pension obligations). Here's a list of some of them, not all.
posted by milkrate at 1:57 PM on May 25, 2005

The 1950 article that smackfu cites employs "Fannie Mae" thusly:

The R.F.C.'s mortgage-buying subsidiary is the Federal National Mortgage Association, generally called "Fannie Mae" in financial circles.

This suggests that the name probably hadn't yet leaked into common usage. That wouldn't be surprising, as the F.N.M.A. was put together just twelve years earlier, in February 1938; the NYT first refers to it in May 1938, as far as my searchfu is able to determine. (*thanks her college for reinstating the NYT historical archive*)
posted by thomas j wise at 2:43 PM on May 25, 2005

Just to make clear, the Fed is not a government-sponsored enterprise. I think that we've covered the question, but if not, I'll go hunt up my Series 7 stuff that has the backgrounders.
posted by sachinag at 3:53 PM on May 25, 2005