• In the remote town of Yungar, Peru, two candidates for mayor with remarkable names are duking it out: Local politician Hitler Alba Sanchez, who served as mayor from 2011 to 2014, has been challenged by Lennin Vladimir Rodriguez Valverde. Sanchez told The Independent that his parents had been unaware of the Nazi connection to his name when he was born, but even after realizing its origins, his father liked it because it "sounded foreign." Peruvians are known for choosing foreign-sounding first names for their children: Last year, Peru's junior football team featured a player named Osama Vinladen. [The Independent, 9/24/2018]
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Election season brings out the funny name stories: In Belgium, 26-year-old Luc Anus is running for a council seat in the city of Lobbes. But when he tried to incorporate social media into his campaign strategy, he hit a snag: Facebook wouldn't allow him to use his last name. The candidate didn't miss a beat, though: He changed his online name to Luc Anu. Metro News reported that there are 49 people in Belgium with the last name Anus. [Metro News, 9/24/2018]