re: Hillary
It could be the wish not to confuse her with Mr. Clinton, but I think Kevin McGrath's observation has also another background:
Prominent females tend to be referred to more often by the first name than men are.

Angie (our Chancelorette) or Maggie are (were) familiar names in German tabloids, Gerhard or Tony aren't.

BTW, in our faculty the only professor who is consistently referred to by her first name when two people talk about her is female.

Wolfgang