It’s All In The Name?

Reuters reports that an Italian right-wing party is offering 1,500 euros ($1,930) to parents who name their babies after wartime fascist dictator Benito Mussolini or his wife Rachele, saying their names are under threat of extinction. The cash is intended to help pay for baby clothes and food and applies to babies born in 2009.

(Mussolini ruled from 1922 to 1943 when he was ousted after leading Italy to ruin by entering World War II as an ally of Germany. He was executed in 1945. Rachele died in 1979.) It comes to mind that there aren’t too many kids around named Adolf either, perhaps for good reason. ❖