Jech v. Burch
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Jech v. Burch, 466 F.Supp. 714 (D. Haw. 1979), is a federal case affirming the constitutional and historical validity of common law name changes.
Parents gave their newborn child a last name different from their own. A friend of the parents did not think this was right and sued over it. The Court affirmed the parents' common law right to choose any name they wished. Particularly, the Court touched upon the morality and constitutionality of this right:
...a proper interpretation of Anglo-American political and legal history and precedent leads to the conclusion that parents have a common law right to give their child any name they wish, and that the Fourteenth Amendment protects this right from arbitrary state action.
The common experience of mankind, whether parents agonizing over a name for their newborn child, or grandparents trying to participate in the naming process, or grown children living with the names their parents gave them, points up to the universal importance to each individual of his own very personal label. Every society has developed a special folklore around a person’s name. One’s name becomes a symbol for one’s self.
Good name in man and woman, dear my lord,
Is the immediate jewel of their souls;
Who steals my purse steals trash; ’tis something, nothing;
’Twas mine, ’tis his, and has been slave to thousands;
But he that filches from me my good name
Robs me of that which not enriches him,
And makes me poor indeed.
W. Shakespeare. Othello Act III, Sc. 3, Line 155 (1604)
The “Blessings of Liberty” mentioned in the preamble of the Constitution include time honored rights, amenities, privileges, and immunities, among which is autonomous control over the development and expression of one’s intellect, interests, tastes, and personality. See Doe v. Bolton, 410 U.S. 179, 93 S.Ct. 739, 35 L.Ed.2d 201 (1973) (concurring opinion of Douglas J., at 210-211, 93 S.Ct. 739). The naming of one’s own child comes within this catalogue of blessings of liberty.
And likewise, the naming of the self. This case directly expounds that this common law right is part of the “Blessings of Liberty” that the U.S. Constitution protects and that specifically the Fourteenth Amendment protects people from intolerant policies in this matter.
The wording “of universal importance” speaks of how truly this right to determine one’s name is a very human right, applicable to all and that under constitutional law, no one shall be robbed of this right, at will, to freely choose their “own very personal label” and “expression” -- their name “which ... enriches [them].”
