54 Misc. 2d 606 | N.Y. City Civ. Ct. | 1967
Petitioner is an American-born citizen over 27 years of age and is employed in a nursing home in the City of New York. He seeks not only to disavow the faith and tenets of his church and his forebears but also his patronymic. Hence he now applies for judicial approval for the renunciation of his natal appellation, Earl Breen, pursuant to section 60 et seq. of the Civil Bights Law, and desires to be known as Merwon Abdul Salaam because he has embraced the Islamic faith.
A cursory research into the name which the applicant desires to assume indicates that Merwon is the name of a well-known caliph, the spiritual and civil head of a Moslem State, Abdul is a servant of God, and the cognomen Salaam denotes an oriental salutation made with a low bow and the word itself is derived from the Hebraic noun Shalom, meaning peace.
" The contention advanced by the petitioner, that great confusion and unnecessary explanations among his friends and newly discovered religionists will result if he is known by two different names, is without merit. Confusion will be caused in any event by the assumption of a name which is so unlike his own.
The Constitution permits complete freedom of religion and worship, and whatever charm the new religiosity may have for him is not for this court to inquire; but to adopt such a strange and unfamiliar name gives one pause.
Variant decisions on this type of application are neither persuasive nor binding.
Although this court respects and approves the constitutional regard for religious freedom and finds no fault with petitioner’s desire to embrace the Islamic religion, it does not, however, require court approval for the change of name, which is discretionary. That is a choice that petitioner may make under the common law.
A name is a word or a combination of words by which an individual is known or designated. The legal name of an individual consists of a given or baptismal name, usually assumed at birth, and a surname deriving from the common name of the parents. What was so succinctly stated by the court in Matter of Johns (supra), is applicable here.
Petitioner should realize that he bears an honored name and should not hide his original identity by the assumption of another name totally and strangely different from the one he has borne since birth. Paraphrasing what this court stated in the Matter of Jama (supra), the petitioner should measure himself by the American standard and be proud not only of being an American citizen but manifest esteem for the honorable name by which he has been known for nigh a generation.
Green is a name that possesses an American echo in politics, government, finance, in peace, and in war. The Bevolutionary War produced the Green Mountain boys, who so valiantly fought
This birthright should not conceal itself behind such an alien shield. It has sufficient buoyancy to float upon the sea of time and in years to come the petitioner may hopefully add luster to the name of Green. The application is denied.