I thought I had problems with my name. I share my first and last name with the son of India’s most celebrated filmmaker, the late Satyajit Ray. I once went to cover an event honoring him and this man seeing my name came up to me and started talking about how he’d once met my father. When he started going into camera angles I realized he was talking not about my civil engineer dad, but Satyajit Ray.

But that confusion is nothing compared to this news I read recently. Apparently a man convicted of rape in India shares his name with India’s hallowed first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru. This Jawaharlal Nehru unfortunately is accused of raping a 16-year-old woman in 1988. He appealed against his sentence to the Supreme Court saying he’d been implicated because he’d refused to buy firewood for the young woman and her mother.

But instead of the facts of the case, the justices have been caught up with the name of the defendant.

“You have committed a rape and share the name with Jawaharlal Nehru?” the judge said. “It is a disgrace to the national ethos.”

Now the Supreme Court is wondering if we should change the names of criminals who share the names of iconic national leaders.

Hmmm I wonder if there are any criminals in the US who are named George Bush or Dick Cheney who’d like to change THEIR names.