Six candidates in Brazil's local elections have renamed themselves Barack Obama. It's an odd name, pronounced the way the Americans pronounce 'baroque' which for me gives a bizarre, late-Renaissance flavour to the thing. Actually it comes from the Hebrew 'Baruch', meaning blessed. The only other famous person I can think of with this name is the 17th century rationalist philosopher Baruch de Spinoza, the enemy of Descartes. Perhaps Mr Obama was named after him.
Mind you, 200 candidates have renamed themselves after the president Lula de Silva, and lula means 'squid'.
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