It is not illegal to name your child Jesus Christ in the US. No federal statute bans any specific baby name, no state singles out religious names for refusal, and “Jesus” was the 164th most popular boys’ name in 2024, used widely in Spanish-speaking families.1Social Security Administration. Change in Name Popularity The handful of naming rules states do enforce target formatting problems like numerals and symbols, not meaning.
Why the Law Allows It
Two constitutional protections stand behind a parent’s naming choice. The Fourteenth Amendment’s liberty clause covers deeply personal family decisions; in Meyer v. Nebraska the Supreme Court held that this liberty includes the right “to marry, establish a home and bring up children.”2Justia Law. Meyer v Nebraska, 262 US 390 (1923) The First Amendment adds a second layer: naming is expressive, and a rule that permitted “George” but blocked “Jesus” would be viewpoint discrimination.
These protections are not absolute, but any restriction has to serve a compelling public interest and be drawn narrowly. A content-based rejection of a religious name does not meet that standard.
When a Judge Tried to Block a Religious Name
The closest an American court has come to banning a religious name happened in Tennessee in 2013. A child support magistrate ordered a mother to rename her son “Messiah,” reasoning that the title belongs only to Jesus Christ. Chancellor Telford E. Forgety Jr. overturned the order, finding it violated the Establishment Clause: the magistrate had enforced a Christian theological viewpoint through the courts.
Commentators at the time noted the original order likely violated four or five constitutional provisions, including parental autonomy, free speech, and equal protection. The reversal makes the governing principle plain. A government official cannot reject a name because of its religious meaning, and that reasoning applies to “Jesus Christ” as directly as it did to “Messiah.”
What States Actually Restrict
State naming rules exist, but they are narrower than most people assume. The common restrictions are:
- No numerals, symbols, or pictographs
- Letters of the English alphabet only, which rules out accent marks, tildes, and umlauts in some states
- No names a registrar considers obscene
Rules vary because naming is governed at the state level, with some states setting them by statute and others by vital records policy. A few states impose almost nothing. None of these rules target religious names anywhere in the country. “Jesus Christ” contains no numerals, no symbols, and nothing obscene, so it clears every standard restriction currently on the books.
The outer boundary is illustrated by a North Dakota case from 1976, in which a man tried to legally change his name to “1069.” The state supreme court refused, and a later attempt in Minnesota also failed. States can require that a name be made of letters rather than digits. They cannot police meaning.
How the Name Appears on Federal Documents
Even when a state accepts a name, federal agencies impose their own formatting rules. These do not restrict what you can name your child; they shape how the name prints on official documents.
Social Security cards show first and middle names on one line and the last name on a second, each capped at 26 characters. If a line runs over, the Social Security Administration drops middle names, middle initials, and suffixes before trimming anything else, and the card accepts only letters, hyphens, apostrophes, and spaces.3SSA – POMS. How the Number Holders Name is Shown on SSN Card
Passports follow International Civil Aviation Organization standards, which bar special characters, symbols, and diacritical marks. The State Department crosses out accent marks even when they appear on a birth certificate, and if a name contains a symbol, officials spell the symbol out in letters instead. Titles and ranks are excluded, though a religious title can appear as a “known as” name.4U.S. Department of State Foreign Affairs Manual (FAM). Name Usage and Name Changes
None of this creates a problem for “Jesus Christ.” The name uses only standard letters and fits well inside the character limits. The federal formatting rules matter more for names like “Jesús,” which loses its accent on a passport, or for names written in non-Latin scripts.
Getting the Name on the Birth Certificate
The birth certificate is the official record of your child’s name, and the process starts at the hospital. Federal law requires every state to complete a birth certificate for every birth, and states collect the information through a standardized system.5Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. NVSS – Birth Data Hospital or birthing-center staff give parents a worksheet covering the child’s name, date and place of birth, and parental details, and that worksheet feeds the state’s vital records system.
Once the record is finalized, you can order certified copies from your state’s vital records office online, by mail, or in person.6USAGov. How to Get a Certified Copy of a US Birth Certificate Costs vary by state and generally run between $10 and $35 per copy.
If a clerk refused to register “Jesus Christ,” the refusal would not be grounded in any statute. It would be an individual decision, and you could challenge it through the state’s administrative process or in court. Given the constitutional protections above, a content-based rejection would be on very weak legal ground.
Changing the Name Later
If one name was registered at birth and you want a different one afterward, every state has a legal process for renaming a minor. The general steps are the same: file a petition in your local court, pay the filing fee, and attend a hearing where a judge decides whether the change serves the child’s best interests. Most states require consent from both parents, or at least notice to the non-filing parent and a chance to object.
Judges weigh the wishes of both parents, the child’s own preference if old enough to express one, the child’s relationship with each parent, and the reasons behind the request. Fees and procedures differ by state, so the practical first step is calling your local court clerk. A change to or from a religious name is judged on the same best-interest standard as any other name change, with no extra scrutiny because of religious content.