TN Judge Orders Mother to Change “Messiah’s” Name

Written by Don Byrd
A judicial magistrate in Newport, Tennessee has decided a couple’s proposed name for their child is just too religious for her taste. So she picked a name she liked instead. Jaleesa Martin was in front of Child Support Magistrate Lu Ann Ballew because she and her newborn’s father couldn’t agree on the child’s last name. But when Ballew saw the child’s first name was “Messiah,” she ordered it changed to Martin.