A bill has been introduced in Venezuela that would restrict parents to a list of 100 government-sanctioned names when choosing a moniker for their newborns. 100!

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.

The bill also aims to prevent names that “generate doubts” about the bearer’s gender.

Talk about a nanny state. The NYT article emphasizes that Venezuela has a strong cultural tradition of bestowing whimsical names on children, such as Haynhect, Olmelibey, Yan Karll and Udemixon. (I’m taking their word for it that these names are indeed whimsical. Ugly American that I am, I’m pretty much mono-lingual…)

Less whimsical: The fact that 60 currently registered Venezuelan voters are named Hitler.

Not everyone is sour on the name restriction measure. 27-year-old Temutchin del Espíritu Santo Rojas Fernández, whose first name is a variation on Genghis Kahn’s birth name, is frankly tired of having to spell out his name every time he makes a purchase (in Venezuela, a name and national identity number are required for every purchase that generates a receipt).

But popular opinion is generally resistant to the law and supportive of parental rights.

So…do you suppose “Hugo” is on the proposed list of approved names?

(Via DaddyTypes.)

Posted by MommaSteph.