State law allows a minor’s name to be changed only when it is ‘clearly in the best interest of the child,’ the court held.
The Mississippi Supreme Court ruled April 17 that a minor female undergoing a so-called gender transition may not change her name to a more masculine name.
Mississippi law defines a minor as a person under the age of 21 years, according to the Mississippi chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which represented the minor.
The Mississippi Supreme Court voted 8–1 to deny the petition of the minor, identified as S.M.-B., after Hinds County Chancery Court Judge Tametrice Hodges denied the name change request on Nov. 21, 2023.
Justice James Maxwell wrote the state high court’s majority opinion in the case that affirmed the lower court’s ruling.
Maxwell recounted the facts of the case.
At the age of 16, in July 2023, the minor, who is female, initiated a petition through her mother to change her legal name to a more masculine name. Her father also gave his consent to the change. The mother said she wanted to change the child’s name “due to her [daughter’s] gender identification as a male.” She said her daughter’s “given name makes her transition more difficult,” according to the opinion.
The county judge held a hearing on Nov. 6, 2023. The minor’s attorney told the court that the petition had been filed as part of the minor’s gender transition. The minor “is seeking to change her name … because she identified as a male, and would like to be known as a male and through school, through college, preparing for college and so forth,” the opinion said.
On Nov. 21, 2023, the judge signed an order dismissing the name change petition without prejudice, meaning the petition may be refiled in the future. The judge said she had “determined in her discretion that the Petitioner should mature before [a] name change would be determined by the Court.” The minor appealed, the opinion said.
The ACLU had urged the court to take up the case in a July 2024 brief.
