What aspirational baby names tell us about culture and hope in restless times.

Baby names are a bellwether for the way people experience politics. So it was that in Canada, Justin Trudeau recently met Justin Trudeau. The first is a 2-month-old Syrian baby. The other is prime minister of the country that gave gracious refuge to the infant’s parents, Muhammad and Afraa Bilan from Damascus, Syria.

In Germany, a mini-Angela Merkel, 18 months old, is proof of the deep gratitude felt by her parents, Mamon and Tema al-Hamza, toward the German chancellor. In 2015, Merkel took in the Hamzas and hundreds of thousands of other Syrian refugees.

Baby names are serious business. Often, they are more than a social trend. They can be a lifeline, a meal ticket, a way to show solidarity with a brutal regime. Why else would thousands of Iraqis name their sons Saddam Hussein from the 1970s-1990s?

The politics and symbolism of baby names run deep in almost every country. In Germany, “Adolf Hitler” is not permitted. In China’s Muslim-majority province of Xinjiang, “Islam,” “Quran,” “Mecca,” “Jihad,” “Imam,” “Saddam,” “Hajj” and “Medina” are among dozens of names banned under the Chinese Communist Party’s “Naming Rules for Ethnic Minorities.”

The Angela Merkels and Justin Trudeaus stand apart from the baby Beyonces and Brad Pitts. Their names are not a cultural whim, a reflection of the changing fashions of the day, with its rotating cast of celebrities.

In Britain, there is increasing debate over the rise of “Mohammed.” Last year, data from the British Office for National Statistics indicated that “Mohammed” appeared with so many spelling variations in 2015 it might have edged out all the other typically English and Welsh boys’ names. The differently spelled versions of “Mohammed” appeared 7,570 times on birth certificates, outstripping the 6,941 babies named Oliver, which was the top English and Welsh boy’s name.

To Islamophobes, the data suggested an incipient cultural takeover. They argued that Muslims were either breeding like rabbits or entering as immigrants in large enough numbers to change the demographic ratio. (The Muslim community in England and Wales, however, remains 5 percent of the population.)

Meanwhile, a survey by parenting forum ChannelMum.com indicated a 6-percent rise in the use of Muslim names by non-Muslim families: Zane, Zahra, Farah and Omar gained ground.

As adults, the young Trudeaus and Merkels will represent one of the most human of instincts. They are a symbol of empathy beyond tribe or country. Help was offered to their parents. Their parents responded with the highest honor they could afford.

To name your baby after someone is an aspirational act. It is a fervent wish, an honest hope that your progeny grows up to be like the kid’s namesake. Which brings us to the second bit of little Angela Merkel al-Hamza’s story.

Right around her first birthday, the family was refused permanent asylum in Germany.

RASHMEE ROSHAN LALL is a columnist for The Arab Weekly. She blogs at rashmee.com