Nearly 1,600 years after his death, a group of descendants of Attila the Hun in Hungary want official status as an ethnic minority, The Telegraph reports.

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Under Hungarian law, ethnic groups of 1,000 or more qualify for the status of an official minority with special privileges and subsidies.

Attila was born in 406 and went on to ravage much of Europe, wiping out entire cities and all of their inhabitants. He and his Huns became known as the "Scourge of God," but Joshua Imre Novak says his group deserves recognition regardless.

"As a member of the European Union, Hungary should not be suppressing a minority," he said.

Many experts dismiss the group's initiative, arguing Hungary has no existing descendants of the barbarians who gave the country its name, the newspaper said.