Browsing through my favorite hip dadster blog Daddytypes, I came upon a link to an amusing NYT article about Venezuela's attempt to establish a list of 100 government-approved baby names.
Government approved baby names?? Zuh?
The article acknowledges that this has little chance of becoming law (I mean, COME ON). But if it did, at least it would not be retroactive. PHEW!
From NYT
The bill’s ambition, according to a draft submitted to municipal offices here for review, is to "preserve the equilibrium and integral development of the child" by preventing parents from giving newborns names that expose them to ridicule or are "extravagant or hard to pronounce in the official language," Spanish.
Uh, ok. BUT not all Venezuelan politicians are on board, surprisingly.
"I need to know how they would define those 100 names," said Jhonny Owee Milano Rodríguez, a congressman representing Cojedes State. "For example, why not 120? This seems arbitrary to me."
Let's see...Hugo, Huga, Hugoetta, Hugobert...
The article also describes what seems to be a Venezuelen tradition of strange names:
But Venezuela’s naming tradition rivals or exceeds that of its neighbors, many people here say. Some first names in Venezuela include Haynhect, Olmelibey, Yan Karll and Udemixon, according to a list compiled by the novelist Roberto Echeto.
Other names here easily roll off the tongue in English, like Kennedy or John Wayne, or in Russian, like Pavel or Ilich, reflecting influences from the cold war era.
(snip)
Software searches of the voter registry find more than 60 people of voting age with the first name Hitler, including Hitler Adonys Rodríguez Crespo; eight Hochiminhs, among them Hochiminh Jesús Delgado Sierra; and six Eisenhowers, including Dwight Eisenhower Rojas Barboza.
Only EIGHT Hochiminhs? I thought for sure it was the Venezuelan 'Jennifer'.
Although I think this would be an exceptionally difficult law to pass, one must remember that Chavez loves to name stuff:
One of the president’s first moves was to change the country’s name from Republic of Venezuela to Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. Part of Avenida Páez here has been renamed Avenida Teheran in a nod to Iran. The currency, the bolívar, is to be called the "bolívar fuerte," or strong bolívar, starting next year.
Anyway, whether or not such a law becomes reality I found it amusing.
NYT article