Photo: Getty Images
If you've ever met someone who had a really strange name, you might have wondered what their parents were thinking. Well that's how one judge reacted when she found out a mom named her baby daughter Cyanide. In fact, she disliked the name so much that it made her feel like the girl's mother lacked the judgement to make sound decisions, so along with getting the girl's name changed, she had her removed from her mother's care.
The mom defended her name choice, calling it a "lovely, pretty name" and noting that there are positive sides to cyanide since it was the poison that killed Hitler. However, the court disagreed, pointing out how the mom's "unusual" name selection might cause harm to her daughter, and the same might be true for the girl's twin brother, who was named Preacher.
The mom, from Wales, reportedly suffers from mental illness as well as drug and alcohol addiction. She was taken to court by social workers when they learned of the kids' names. A judge initially issued an injunction, forbidding her from calling the children Cyanide and Preacher. However, the mother appealed, insisting she had a right to name her kids whatever she wanted, but it backfired. The appeals court not only upheld the ruling about the names, but they also had the kids moved to foster care. The judge explained, "This is one of those rare cases where the court should intervene to protect the girl twin from emotional harm that I am satisfied she would suffer if called Cyanide." The court deemed Cyanide unacceptable and while there wasn't anything too objectionable about Preacher, the judge left it up to the twins' older half-siblings to give them new names.