Tennessee Judge overrules earlier decision: boy can be named ‘Messiah’
Jaleesa Martin and Jawaan McCullough can now name their child “Messiah” after a Judge overturned a ruling in August in a case which drew international attention.
NPR details how a paternity hearing in August put the family in the headlines after a judge ruled that “Messiah” was not an appropriate title.
“The word Messiah is a title and it’s a title that has only been earned by one person and that one person is Jesus Christ,” said child support magistrate Lu Ann Ballew back in August, defending her controversial decision.
She also said that the name would potentially put the child “at odds with a lot of people.”
Ballew ordered that the child be named Martin DeShawn McCullough.
“Everybody believes what they want so I think I should be able to name my child what I want to name him, not someone else,” the frustrated mother said at the time.
A ruling on Wednesday by county Chancellor Telford E. Forgety in Newport, Tenn., overturned Ballew’s decision, allowing the name on the child’s birth certificate to stand.
“Everybody’s just happy,” Martin was quoted by the AP as saying after the ruling. “I’m glad it’s over with.”
