Royal, like the majority of France's political elite, is a graduate of the École nationale d'administration. She was in the same class as her former partner of 30 years, François Hollande, as well as Dominique de Villepin (prime minister under Jacques Chirac). Each class year at the ENA receives a nickname to distinguish it: Royal tried to get her peers to name their class after Louise Michel, a revolutionary from the 1870s, but they chose the name "Voltaire" instead. During her time at the ENA, Royal also dropped "Marie" from her hyphenated first name.