Surnames disappear for good quite naturally all the time, we usually don't even notice. It's rare that society takes a role in deeming a name so shameful and despicable that its descendants are forced to discontinue passing it on. When institutions fail to hold a destructive leader to account, when society has been harmed beyond recompense, the

Surnames disappear for good quite naturally all the time, we usually don't even notice. It's rare that society takes a role in deeming a name so shameful and despicable that its descendants are forced to discontinue passing it on. When institutions fail to hold a destructive leader to account, when society has been harmed beyond recompense, the collective shaming of the perpetrator's name, a curse essentially, may be the most powerful recourse.