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Couple Sues The US State Of Georgia After Being Told They Couldn’t Name Their Child ‘Allah’
Copy of the redacted birth certificate application form (Photo: Fulton County Superior Court)
Shakespeare definitely didn't think the world thought otherwise when he remarked, "What's in a name?".
The latest name-stirred -fiasco is where a couple, on being denied the right to name their child what they wish to, has filed a case against the state of Georgia, for doing just that.
The couple with the help of American Civil Liberties Union has filed a suit last Thursday (23 March) to get 22-month-old baby ZalyKha Graceful Lorraina Allah, her right to be called so. ZalyKha was born in Atlanta to Elizabeth Handy and Bilal Walk, an unmarried couple in 2015. A year later when the couple filled the form to legally name the child, they were told that Georgia's administrative code would not permit the use of the last name 'Allah'.
The last name of the child reportedly doesn't confirm to the laws that require that the last names should be the same as that of either the mother or the father or a combination of both, or “in accordance with a bona fide cultural naming convention.”
The parents, as reported by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, gave her the name “because it was “noble,” and it has nothing to do with religion. Allah is the name for God, the Supreme Being, in the Arabic language." Without a birth certificate, the child, the parents, fear will not only be denied all other facilities like education, medical aid but also be questioned about her identity as a citizen of the United States.
The couple have a 3-year-old son, named Masterful Mosirah Aly Allah, which the state strangely had no objections to, are expecting another child and wished they do not have to go through this process again.
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