Names are so important. Just imagine trying to win elected office in 2026 if your name was Hitler? It’d never happen … oh.
Yes, the first round of French municipal elections shone a spotlight on one Charles Hittler (that extra “t” isn’t really helping) — the mayor of Arcis-sur-Aube, southeast of Paris. And one of his opponents was called Zielinski (Antoine Renault-Zielinski, not Volodymyr). Though Hitler vs. Zelenskyy sounds like the kind of thing that only previously existed in fan fiction spawned from the darkest corners of the internet.
The French mayor isn’t the only Hit(t)ler on the political scene either. Last year, Adolf Hitler Uunona retained his seat in a local election in Namibia. After an earlier victory in 2020, he had told Bild he had no plans for domination, whether in the former German colony or globally.
“My father named me after this man. He probably didn’t understand what Adolf Hitler stood for,” the Namibian politician said, rather terrifyingly.
Hitler and Hittler aren’t alone in having names that should be electorally off-putting. There’s also Geoffrey Epstein, who ran unsuccessfully to be mayor of Framingham, Massachusetts last year, and is very clearly not the late convicted sex offender.
And if seeing the name Hittler on the ballot is an unwelcome reminder of days gone by, for many, so is the return of warm beer.