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Eric the Viking hates Muhammed. That’s so Kevin!

Worrying news from France this week is that a far-right polemicist has called for a ban on “foreign-sounding names” such as Muhammad, Jordan and, perhaps the most divisive of them all, Kevin.

His name is Eric Zemmour, who, according to The Times, is considering a run for the French presidency, having made a, er, name “for himself by calling for curbs on immigration and measures to force immigrant families — and, notably, Muslims

— to adopt traditional French customs and culture”.

If he becomes president, Eric will bring back a law put in place by Napoleon Bonaparte that required that only names “included in the Christian calendar of saints and those from ‘ancient history’ were authorised,” reported the Times.

“I will re-establish the 1803 law. A French man will no longer have the right to call his son Muhammad,” said Zemmour. He went on to target names brought in from AngloSaxon countries — such as “Kevin and Jordan”.

I am a proud Kevin. It is an Irish name, derived from Ó Caoimhín, which in Gaelic means “handsome”. That sounds about right. There was a seventh century saint, one of the patrons of Dublin, called Kevin. He apparently pushed a woman who was coming on a bit hard to him into a garden of nettles. Not very saintly.

The name Kevin only became popular midway through the 20th century, peaking at 11 on the charts of most popular baby names. It has become less popular down the years, but in France, a 2017 BBC report revealed, it was the most popular name for boys from 1989 to 1994.

But, it is a name some of the French make fun of because it was popular with the “lower classes”. It is associated with “beauf”, unsophisticated and vulgar people. I’m three for three there. There is a saying in French slang that goes: “You are such a Kevin.”

Kevin Pietersen is such a Kevin. So is Kevin de Bruyne, Kevin Durant, Kevin Keegan and Kevin Anderson, to name a few. In 2017, 33% of all TV shows in the US had a character called Kevin because, said a report in The Ringer, it was popular but not that popular.

“The numbers also show that while Kevin was somewhat popular at one time, it was never a Michael or a James. Instead, it’s a name that’s in a sweet spot between overfamiliarity and obscurity.”

It is reckoned that the only reason Zemmour chucked Jordan and Kevin into the mix is to take some heat away from the fact that he is anti-Muslim and a racist. He does not want French children called Muhammed or Mohammed or any spelling of the name. Why, he moans, are the children of third-generation Muslims still calling their children Muhammed? Haven’t they become French yet? What the hell is taking them so long?

Which is to ignore what being French actually means. It is supposed to stand for liberty, equality and fraternity. It is about the word “race” having been removed from the constitution. But it’s not this for the likes of Zemmour. It’s about immigrants and not accepting them, making them realise they will never be the type of French citizens they hold up as an ideal to mask their racism.

Being French is about being N’Golo Kante, Paul Pogba, Benjamin Mendy, Karim Benzema and Ousmane Dembélé, Muslims who play football for France. It’s about Zinedine Zidane, who described himself as a non-practising Muslim and who in 2004 was voted the most popular man in France. It’s about Zidane’s father, Smail, who taught him “that an immigrant must work twice as hard as anybody else, that he must never give up”.

Zemmour would have hated hearing Mo Salah’s name sung with gusto at a packed Anfield on Wednesday night as Liverpool came back to beat AC Milan in a match that was the pick of the Champions League this week. He would have done his nut to hear that Sadio Mané prays five times a day and had told his uncle in Senegal that his dream was to play football in France.

I am sure Zemmour has taken some time to research the name Eric. It’s of Norse origin, derived from a word that means “forever ruler”.

Here’s hoping Zemmour never gets into power. They might not let me visit.

SPORT

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2021-09-17T07:00:00.0000000Z

2021-09-17T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://tisobg.pressreader.com/article/281947430982325

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