jQuery validation plugin - debug error for button inputs

jQuery validation plugin - debug error for button inputs

I have 6 nav buttons, <input type='button' ...>, that are generating validate errors: "has no name assigned" because they have no name. 

Is it possible tell validate to ignore button inputs?  They are generated by a menu library and I really don't want to give them names that have no purpose and I REALLY don't want to start modifying the library.