What is the story behind his extravagant name?

In the lower divisions of Flamengo striking a young man of just 17 years and although it has not yet made his debut in the first division of the Brazilian championship, more and more people talk about it. This player is nothing more and nothing less than Marx Lenin Dos Santos. Many think that his rising fame is due to its flashy name, but thank God it is not, due to his talent. This young player is considered one of the promises of Brazilian football and for some time blunts in the ranks of Flamengo, club to which he belongs.

With that fancy name, which mentions nothing more and nothing less than two notable communists of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Karl Marx father of scientific socialism and Vladimir Ilich Lenin leader of the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia, some think that his parents are strong revolutionary and communist militants who have minimally read works such as the "Communist Manifesto", "The Capital", or "Imperialism, the highest stage of capitalism ".

It is common for parents to decide naming their children after popular people or celebrities at that time, or people they admire. For instance, for those born in Argentina in the eighties Diego is a common name because Diego Armando Maradona, and in Brazil in the late nineties and early millennium, there are a lot of Ronaldos, because of Luiz Nazario Ronaldo.

However, Marx Lenin Dos Santos was born on 11 April 2000, decades after the heyday of the works and deeds of the communist revolutionaries Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin, and years after the collapse of the experiences kbwn as real socialism, in Eastern Europe.

Surprisingly, when consulting the young talent on the origin of his name, he said that his parents were not thinking about the remarkable communist leaders when they came up with his name. Marx's name derives from the name of his father who is called Antonio Marques Gonçalves, and slightly modifying it, a common name in Brazil, was named Marx. Regarding the second name, he does not know where it came from, but there is no story that claims he was named after the Russian revolutionary.

When asked about his political views, the young man says he does not know anything about politics and football is the only thing thinking and passionate. He does not even know who Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin were and has never exercised their right to vote.

Although it is unlikely, for now all that relates to the young man with the communist ideal is their rebellion, because at some point he was separated from his club "for indiscipline and rebellion", the colors of the club to which he belongs, red and black and spectacular left-handed leg because it could not be otherwise.

Latin American Post | Daniel Ramírez Pérez

Copy edited by Laura Rocha Rueda