Wasn’t Hi’s wife named Lois?
When I was a kid, in Illinois, a new doctor performed surgery on me…his name was Fidel Castro. Things got a bit icky in the 60’s with his name, but he never changed it.
I recently read that relatives of Adolf Hitler live in the US, but have changed their name, live anonymously and have produced no heirs.
Stephen Cobert’s real name is Ted Hilter. No relation. Well, distant relation, two generations back. Directly.He’s Adolf Hitler’s grandson. Anyways, it’s out there. It’s no longer news.
Okay, so that’s pretty off, but Jihad is actually a regular Arabic name. My stepson has a Lebanese classmate called Jihad. He’s a nice little kid too. Maybe somebody who knows Arabic can come along and tell me the original meaning of the word (I’ve forgotten), but it’s not “holy war”. That is a secondary usage (admittedly the one most well-known to Westerners). From memory Jihad is a general term meaning a sort of internal struggle and development to better one’s self as a Muslim. Muslims are meant to practice “Jihad”, even if it is simply in the form of mental development. The holy war side of it is just one manifestation. At least that’s my understanding of it.
Right. You and I know this. The seriously odd thing is that the lady there didn’t know this. She was really just in the earliest stages of understanding this unique and diverse culture, through her boyfriend. They didn’t stay together at the hospital, and the boyfriend seemed to be a second or third generation Arab-American, and fairly accepting of the American culture around him. That’s what made it so… surreal. The woman made it very clear that the name was her choice, not her boyfriend’s. It was just odd to hear of someone who knew so little about the culture of Islam picking a name that most Americans would associate with the least pleasant aspects of its fringe groups.
Some cultures name their kids after significant events current at the time of the child’s birth - both good and bad. There is a significant minority of kids walking (or crawling) around in parts of east Asia with the names Tsunami, Osama, Earthquake, Famine, etc.
In some cultures a “good” name is a good thing. In others, an important name is a good thing.
As for the point about the Dublin restaurant called ‘Mao’ - now two restaurants, the first being so successful - I know one of the chefs, I’ve eaten there, and I share Liberal’s queasiness about the name. And add my own queasiness because I think the food there is shit.
(Incidentally, I recently met a cat called Hitler. See if you can work out why…)
That cat also reminds me of Leonard Nimoy for some reason.
In Sweden we’ve had an MP for the Greens with the last name of Stalin and there is a former boss of one of the bigger unions with the first name Ninel (read it backwards). The name fits her though since she’s politically a leftie.
The problem is that somehow if one doesn’t change their name in response to historical messiness, they are some how ‘endorsing it’ in your eyes. That’s just ignorant thinking.
Damn, being able to post this was the only reason I read past the second post. Urgh.
The problem is that you haven’t been paying attention. Try actually answering his and my question.
Why? Open a thread in GQ if you’re interested. I was justing using Gerneral Arnold’s name as a sarcastic example of how rediculous it is to judge someone upon their name.
Who is doing that? We’re talking about stupid parents who would name their kid with a stupid name. There is also a side discussion about how names tend to become less popular in Western culture when they are associated with someone notorious. You’re off on your own.
