Parents sue for right to name daughter 'Allah'

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A mom and dad in Georgia are suing the Georgia Department of Health because they refused to let the couple give their daughter the surname "Allah."

Elizabeth Handy and Bilal Walk's baby girl is now almost two years old, and she still doesn't have a last name or a birth certificate. Their chosen name, ZalyKha Graceful Lorraina Allah, was rejected by the health department. It said the law requires parents to choose the mother's last name, the father's last name or a combination of both.

Here's the catch: Handy and Walk's 3-year-old son was granted the last name with no problem. So was Walk's 16-year-old son from a previous marriage.

It is the parents' right, Young says, to give their child whatever name they want. The law provides for last names related to a "bona fide cultural tradition," but even that can be difficult to parse out.
"This regulation initially did not have exception for bona fide cultural traditions... but who has authority to judge that? A clerk, a judge, given whole variety of cultures?" she says.

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Can you really name your child anything?
The reality is, states and institutions do often have a say in what names are appropriate, though the reach is usually limited.
In 2009, a couple got nationwide attention when a bakery refused to decorate a cake with the name of their son — Adolf Hitler Campbell. The boy was born in New Jersey, which Young says has some of the most relaxed naming rights. You can name your child anything, apparently, as long as it doesn't contain a number, symbol or obscenity. (Little Adolf had two sisters: JoyceLynn Aryan Nation and Honszlynn Hinler Jeanne.) The Campells' four children were eventually taken away from them for unrelated reasons.

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