Sunday, November 30, 2008

Probably Not Making the Most Popular Baby Names List This Year

Trofie Wife is always on the lookout for interesting tidbits regarding her adoptive home. If readers remember from an earlier post, she was shocked to see a Mussolini calendar on sale in Voltri. Well, apparently there actually is a market for such paraphernalia. A little tidbit in The New York Times, of all places, reported on a $1,900 payment, courtesy of a neo-fascist party in the Southern Italian Basilicata region (Potenza is the big town there; the region is Italy’s smallest and most impoverished), to couples naming their children either Benito or Rachele, after Il Duce and his bride. No word on how many—if any—families have taken them up on the offer. I guess this is an extension of other attempts by Italian regional and local leaders to financially incentivize parenthood in order to stem the tide of negative population growth (see this New York Times Magazine article from last summer, http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/29/magazine/29Birth-t.html).

However reactionary, this group just might be on to something. Trofie Wife has heard on more than one occasion parents referring to a child as “the little dictator” or something of that nature. Taking the Fiamma Tricolore up on their offer turns the moniker on its head. In exchange for dictating, il bambino gets stuck with a funny name (at least if he’s a boy), and Mom and Dad get to take the money and run.

Baci e gelato,

Martello e Trofie Wife

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I object. We hardly ever call our son "the little dictator"! We prefer "his royal highness" and "his lordship." Monarchy over fascism any day. And while we're on the topic of monarchs, "drama queen" also gets heavy usage.