Why do fannie mae and freddie mac have similar names?

Question

It's a little suspicious, n'est pas?

Answer 1

They have the same mother.

Answer 2

We can't pronouce the French words for them so we just tag 'em by whatever is easiest.

Answer 3

Americans love infantilising. In this case it looks like the babies are going to die before they grow up.

Answer 4

Well, actually, these "words" for these two organizations are really easy-to-pronounce representations/alternatives to the abbreviations for their full organizational names:

Fannie Mae is the Federal National Mortgage Association (FNMA), which is commonly pronounced as "fannie mae."

Freddie Mac is the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (FHLMC), which is commonly pronounced as "freddie mac."

As you can see, this convention pertaining to the pronunciation of the abbreviations works out better for Fannie Mae's name than for Freddie Mac, but this wouldn't be the first time the Gov't has done something that doesn't make total sense to us.