Hey Zeus
Maybe it’s all in the pronunciation.
A United States Judge in Tennessee thinks it’s her job to go around around giving babies a proper name that doesn’t mess with her belief system.
A U.S. judge told Tennessee parents that they couldn’t name their 7-month-old son Messiah because the only true Messiah was Jesus Christ.
She ordered the baby’s name, Messiah DeShawn Martin, to be changed to Martin DeShawn McCullough, which includes both parents’ last name, media reports said.
So, I’m wondering if my friend Jesus Cortez should cancel his trip to Memphis next month.
We have a Judge Pope in our county, so I guess there’s more than one of them, too.
Thanks to everybody for the heads up.
I actually know a guy named Zeus. He’s Greek.
1Good grief.
2You know, even if the judge is nuts, she did the kid a favor. You KNOW all the kids at school would have fun with that name: Hey Messy!
3It would stick.
First, it seems this ruling can be overturned since it is clearly based on religious prejudice. Ironically, if it had been done to protect the child it might make sense, but it doesn’t seem that’s the case.
Second, how on earth is this judge going to prevent the parents from using the name “Messiah” for their child? Lot’s of people don’t use the names on their birth certificates. For the judge to issue a ruling she cannot enforce is especially silly.
Third, how on earth did this become a court case anyway?
4Good question, LynnN–I’d love to know the answer to that one. And a US judge? I would have thought any objection to the name by anyone of standing would have started out in state court.
5I remember that Bob Hope was legally named Leslie Hope… and that when he was asked to give his name, last name first, it came out as..
Hopelessly…
Or just plain Hopeless.
6OK, I clicked on the link–the baby’s last name on birth certificate apparently was the mother’s maiden name and the parents went to court (I still don’t know why a federal court unless the baby was born on a US Army post, etc.) to get the baby’s last name changed to the father’s last name.
The US judge did that–but she also changed the given name because of her own beliefs.
7So all the parents wanted was a last name change but the judge changed the ENTIRE name?? No way that stands up to a challenge but it’s very unfair – these parents shouldn’t have to pay to pursue that claim but they will.
I wonder how Ms. Judge reacts to all those Hispanic babies named Jesus, or anyone at all named Mary.
8The judge is not a federally appointed judge but a child support magistrate in Tennessee. The BBC described her as a United States judge, and perhaps other news organizations picked up that designation from the BBC.
9A dictionary definition of the word messiah is a liberator of people.
102).The judge is out of her mind and overstepped.
3).The judge thinks the word messiah only has to do with christianity—which makes you wonder where she got her law degree.
4).If the kid had issues with his name he could have called himself anything he wanted to in the future.
5).The judge is out of her mind and overstepped.
And don’t forget all those other biblical names: Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Ezra, Peter, Paul … Mary’s already mentioned … and, of course, Elizabeth, Sarah, Esther … oh my, the list just goes on and on!
Sweet Jesus … what insanity … too bad someone didn’t step in when some of these celebrities were naming their kids!!
11Angela: Probably got her law degree at Liberty University or Oral Roberts University.
12I tried to follow another link from DailyKos which had disappeared. Dug around a little bit and found that the Tennessee courts website had scrubbed her contact information. I wonder why?
13‘Small government’ to republicans means this;
14Do things my way, according to my religious beliefs.
When will women and men realize this and stop voting against their own interests?
Where was she when Frank Zappa named his kids Dweezil and Moon Unit?
15I can think of no name that is not hearsay. We all have names that someone else attached to us.
16If Messiah can’t stay between the lines when coloring they can always call him Messi,for short. Win/Win situation for the kid and besides what if he truly is a Messiah,won’t that nutter have egg on her face?
17Don’t know if it’s the case here, but in many places you don’t need a law degree to be a magistrate and some magistrates have judge functions. Judges have been known to prohibit names they feel will subject a child to ridicule and bullying.
Like ‘A Boy Named Sue’.
Perhaps I should petition to have my name changed to Flying Spaghetti Monster just to see her reaction.
18http://www.tncourts.gov/rules/rules-juvenile-procedure/34#top
Rule 34,subsection B-extraordinary relief would probably be the best option to vacate the Magistrate Lu ANN Ballew’s order. I am not a lawyer and have no legal background. I wonder sometimes if these judges,etc have any legal training.
19Down my way we have kids being named Huitzipotchli, Tezacapetl and Quetzicoatl … not to mention a couple of Stalins, Lenins or Maos. I had a student with the given name of not Guadalupe, but “La Virgen de Guadalupe”. It’s all good, though some (Mexican) states, the registrar won’t put on the birth certificate really weird foreign names… like Kevin or Bubba.
20I have a friend who dated an Attilla. Family was Hungarian or some such, fairly common over there.
21That judge is going to be busy… the boy in this story is just one of 5,450+ Messiahs born in the United States since 2005.
http://www.ssa.gov/cgi-bin/babyname.cgi
22My eldest is named J – just the letter, no period. Family was positive he was going to get his behind beat every day at school and that he’d hate us for it but he loves his name. He runs into a minor problem with it occasionally but kids always thought it was cool and everyone remembers his name.
Ya just never know how things will turn out.
23This magistrate has a figurine of Mary,Joseph and the baby Jesus on her office desk and the 10 commandments on her office wall. No seperation of church and state there.
24Let’s not forget those infamous baseball players named Hoo, Watt and Idunno. This magistrate could have ruined the best baseball schtick ever performed by Abbott and Costello.
25Well, I hate to admit it but I live in this little poor county in East Tennessee. JJ, it is 450 miles from Memphis, so no worry, since Memphis is Democratic. Newport, Cocke County, TN is 98% white and 2% whatever else. It is about 97.9% republican. I am exaggerating, but not by much. And, it is all about Bible and guns and I forgot whatever else goes with that. Our literacy rate is low, our poverty rate is high as is teen pregnancy. So, there you go. My husband was born here and is a rabid Dem and I am a tranplant from Texas by way of Memphis. It is beautiful however as we are smack dab in the Smoky Mountains.
26http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/judge-in-tennessee-changes-babys-name-from-messiah#comment-998071236
27If the parents want to name their child Messiah, Emmanuel, Buddha, Muhammad, Jesus or Beelzebub, the judge’s religious beliefs or the religious beliefs of others “in an area with a large Christian population” should have no bearing in that decision.
Apparently this case originated as a dispute between the mother and father over the kid’s last name. No one questioned the first name until the judge did.
28This whole saga reminds me of the parents who could not agree on a name for their child, so they decided to draw on name of a hat. Unfortunately, the father grasped the tag in the back of the hat, and the kid was named Six and seven-eights O’Hara. Of course that’s true, would Uncle Dave bull-s**t his friends?
29YOU.CAN’T. MAKE. THIS. STUFF. UP.
30V