Mother from Wales banned from naming her daughter Cyanide

Landmark case: Appeal Court judges ruled that it was too 'extreme' and that the mother's 'unusual' choices might harm her children
Michael Jones/Getty
Hannah Al-Othman15 April 2016

A Welsh woman has been banned by a judge from naming her daughter Cyanide.

The woman, from Powys, South Wales gave birth to twins and chose the name Preacher for the girl's twin brother.

She claimed it was her human right to name her own children, and said Cyanide was a "lovely, pretty name" with positive connotations as it ended the lives of both Hitler and Joseph Goebbels.

However, after social workers took the case to court, the Court of Appeal ruled the "extreme" names might harm the children.

The court was told the mother had a history of mental illness, drug and alcohol abuse.

Cyanide: the woman wanted to name the child after the poision taken by Adolf Hitler
Roger Viollet/Getty Images

The two babies, along with the mother's three other children, have now been taken from her care.

Lady Justice King said courts would only intervene over the names of children in the most extreme cases.

"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'", she said.

Although Preacher was not deemed to be as bad as Cyanide, the judge ruled it was in both twins' interests that their names should be chosen by their half-siblings.

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