Dec 6, 2014 2 min read

In the late 1930s and early 1940s, as Adolf Hitler was drawing up plans to dominate Europe and becoming public enemy number one almost everyplace else, many recent German emigres to the United States or Canada found themselves in an uncomfortable spot.

They shared the same name as the Fuhrer.

In order to wipe away the stigma, some decided to simply downplay it – someone named, say, Rudolph Adolph Hueber, might have opted to identify himself as Rudolph A. Hueber for the rest of his days. Others changed their names entirely.

And the association with Hitler has stuck. The popularity of certain names wax and wane, but we’re guessing little boys named Adolph will be rarities in preschools for many decades to come.

In North Korea, the dictator Kim Jong-un is solving that problem for his own people.

If the head of one of the world’s most astringent authoritarian states ever goes the way of Saddam Hussein, Muammar Gaddafi or any of the other maximum leaders who come to ignominious ends, the Kim Jong-un moniker might evoke some highly unpleasant associations. But now, no one else but Kim Jong-un will have that name.

It’s all thanks to a 2011 decree that was revealed last week in news reports on the other side of the demilitarized zone that separates North Korea from democratic South Korea. It follows a tradition started by Kim Jong-un’s grandfather, Kim Il-Sung, who also ordered no one else could bear his name.

Now, there will be only one Kim Jong-un.

And for that, we can all be thankful.