Azerbaijan is moving forward with a curious social experiment. The government may soon order most of its citizens to change their last names and to pick first names for their children from a government-compiled list. The project, first announced last year, is meant to erase the influence of Azerbaijan’s erstwhile overseer, Russia, and to help Azerbaijan go back to its national roots.  
     
Parliament is expected soon to discuss a bill that would replace Russian last name endings such as “-ov/-ova” with Azeri-style endings such as “-lie,” “-oglu,” “-gil,” or “-soy.” Upwards of 80 percent of Azerbaijani last names end with “-ov/-ova," “-ev/eva," according to the National Academy of Sciences.

Nizami Jafarov, head of the parliamentary committee on cultural affairs, told Zerkalo newspaper that ethnic minorities would be exempt from this requirement. Jafarov said that those who do not wish to change their last names will have to take their case to court.   

The bill also proposes to impose limits on the first names that can be given to babies. Names from aggressor countries, ergo Armenia, will be outright banned, while Azerbaijani parents will be advised against giving their children names that sound funny in foreign languages.

One key question, though, appears to remain unanswered -- whether or not Azerbaijan's president, Ilham Aliyev, plans to set the example for change himself.