Judge orders mom to rename baby

[Panacea]

Long story short: Mom names her kid Messiah. Baby is now 7 months old. Judge doesn't like name, orders Mom to rename him Martin. http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2013/0...omment-2523335

Now I'll be the first to say Messiah is a damn stupid thing to name your kid. But that's not my call, and it's not this judge's.

[Andara Bledin]

It's very much not the judge's, and since his entire decision is based on his own religious bias, it's going to go down hard the moment it gets properly challenged.

[Ginger Tea]

even if she agreed to the change, what if she doesn't want Martin as a name?

Edit:
Jaleesa Martin, the child's mother, told WBIR that she intends to appeal the decision.
So the Judge wants the child to be called Martin Martin, what is he a fan of Game On?

Semi off topic, but say you wanted to call your child Bob, could you have Bob on the birth certificate or would they get all pissy and write Robert down instead.
Change Bob to other shortened forms of names

[HYHYBT]

Perhaps it's the last name they wanted to be "Messiah?" Jaleesa Messiah does have a nice ring to it, even if it is an incredibly mean thing to saddle the kid with.

[bara]

Waste of taxpayer money.

I think its a bad name, but she could name her kid what she wants. No one can be forced to call the kid that. But it will make for fun times in school... for the bullies.

[Gravekeeper]

If you read the full article instead of CNN's clickbait it gives more context. The parents were in court over a dispute over what the child's last name should be. Which brought the first name to the attention of the judge as well.

The judge ordered the kid's name to be "Martin DeShawn McCullough." ( Not Martin Martin ;p ) It includes both parent's last names but leaves out Messiah.

According to Judge Ballew, it is the first time she has ordered a first name change. She said the decision is best for the child, especially while growing up in a county with a large Christian population.

"It could put him at odds with a lot of people and at this point he has had no choice in what his name is," Judge Ballew said.

So while her Jesus is Lord comment is totally out of line, her reasoning is that the kid would get the shit bullied out of him growing up where he lives.

[Andara Bledin]

The problem is that I'm not sure she has the authority to unilaterally change the child's first name in a situation where the first name was not in dispute.

In a country where we have kids named Moon Unit and North West and Chanda Lear, I'm not sure that being named Messiah is really that far out there.

Sure the name is stupid. But if kids want to pick on you, they will, even if your name is something common like David. And if they don't, even having a name that's bully-bait won't make them start.

[Hyena Dandy]

The judge would have the authority, and I think that an argument could be made that the goal was to find a solution which would get both parties names in, and I'm assuming they both rejected the idea of a hyphenated name. It's not likely you could have called a kid McCullough Martin, but Martin McCullough would get a worthwhile name.

Don't get me wrong, I'd rather the kid not get renamed, I'm just saying that the judge could be asaid to have an authority and reason for it.

[Nekojin]

It's questionable whether the judge has the authority, actually. Typically, a judge needs standing - a reason to be addressing a specific issue - before they can actually address it, even in civil court. Even if they see some egregious wrong being committed, they're not allowed to go crusading after it unless it's been explicitly been presented to the court to be settled. Since the only thing at issue was the child's last name, it can be argued that there's no standing for the judge to do anything to the child's first name.

Which is essentially just a long-winded way of saying what Andara said.

[Mr Hero]

What would be funny is if the mom gave the baby the name Jesus since it's a common name in Spanish speaking countries.

[Ginger Tea]

Did anyone ever call their child Judas?
I know Arnold Judas Rimmer but he's fictitious and as it's a middle name, it doesn't count anyway.

[Panacea]

What would be funny is if the mom gave the baby the name Jesus since it's a common name in Spanish speaking countries.

Great point! There's so much precedent with this, that I think the judge would have a hard time defending it.

Did anyone ever call their child Judas?
I know Arnold Judas Rimmer but he's fictitious and as it's a middle name, it doesn't count anyway.

I think Judas is out of favor as a name. I've never heard it even in the Jewish community (though my exposure is quite limited). Rimmer's middle name was a joke, and meant to be.

[Ginger Tea]

I've never seen it as a name, aside from Rimmer and Judas from the bible, I've never encountered it. To me it comes across as a title than a name as if Iscariot was his name and it was changed to the traitor Iscariot but the word used was Judas and mistaken for a name.

Granted that's probably not a Hebrew word for traitor, but that's all I hear the name used as.
I don't think any biblical names least the New Testament anyways are Hebrew, but changed for a western audience in one of the many revisions and these just stuck.
The disciples John Paul George and Ringo, let's not forget Rita Sue and Bob too.
Yes they are in heavy use in the west even if you are not religious, but I don't think it's a case of England taking on the names but using their own, or at least modifying the original to be more palatable to new converts, just as the French edition would probably have Pierre.

It's almost as if no one want's to be 'that guy' the guy that names their kid Judas, hell chances are there are a few German born Adolph's post WWII, not many I would think, but Judas seems to have zilch in 2000 years.

[Hyena Dandy]

To me it comes across as a title than a name as if Iscariot was his name and it was changed to the traitor Iscariot but the word used was Judas and mistaken for a name.

Judas is actually a name. There's even a reference in John 14:22 to Judas (Uh, no, not him, the other one)

Jude is a derivative of Judas, and was #162 in popularity in the U.S.

And Neko, I think that a good argument can be made here, that there is standing to change the boy's first name. I wouldn't know where to start to look it up, but I don't think that the law would be interpreted so narrowly as to make a dispute over naming the child apply only to the last name, and therefore the judge can't impose anything else.

I don't think it was the right decision, I'm just saying that it should be challenged on first amendment grounds (Which it clearly violates) rather than the judge not being able to (Which I'm not sure it does.)

[Andara Bledin]

I think Judas is out of favor as a name. I've never heard it even in the Jewish community (though my exposure is quite limited). Rimmer's middle name was a joke, and meant to be.

Since Judas is a Greek rendering of a Yiddish name, I suspect that you won't see a lot of it in non-Greek regions. Though Jude is just a nickname for Judas used to separate the two apostles bearing the same name.

I believe the English rendering is actually Judah.

[edit] beaten to most of this by the Yena...