In North Korea, no one can have the same name as Kim Jong Un

On December 3,KBS Newsannounced that according to an official North Korean document dating back to January 5, 2011, no North Korean is allowed to have the same first name as Kim Jong Un.

You can imagine how annoying this kind of policy would be when you consider that Jong Un is a common name for men and women alike.

According to KBS, the document was made a few months afterKim Jong Ilpublicly made Kim Jong Un his heir. The document instructs theWorkers' Partyand public security agencies to disallow people from naming newborns Jong Un and to make sure people who already have the name would "voluntarily" adopt new names. That means they need to change their birth certificates and residence registrations.

South Korea's Unification Ministrysays it's highly possible that the news regarding this law is true due to the fact that Kim Jong Un's fatherKim Jong Iland his grandfatherKim Il Sunghad similar policies regarding their own names.

Under Kim Jong Il and Kim Il Sung's reign, other names besides their own were also banned. No one was allowed to have the name Kim Tae Yang due to the fact that "Tae Yang"--as K-Pop fans know--means "sun," Kim Il Sung's symbol. Citizens were also not allowed to have variations of the leaders' names. A name like Jong Il Bong, for example, would not fly because it has the same characters "Jong" and "Il" like Kim Jong Il's name. People also could not use the rulers' parents names. Kim Jong Il's mother's nameKim Jong Sookand Kim Il Sung's mother's nameKang Ban Sukwere both also banned.