The naming of children

  C J Sansom's  Shardlake novels convey a distinct impression of the disturbed and disturbing atmosphere during the reign of Henry the Horrible when conscience was literally a matter of life and death. In"Dissolution" there is a scene where the Tudor problem solver visits a family who have adapted to the new times by giving their children names such as Zealous, Perseverance and Duty.

I was strongly reminded of similar practices in other tyrannical situations. A Chinese parent  at the time of the so-called Cultural Revolution  would be placed in a difficult situation. Give a child a generation name and you were backward. Best just to call the child Hua (China) and be done with it. No criticism was then possible.No doubt there would be similar patriotic names in the Soviet Union.