Belgium: Jerusalem not valid name for child
Israelis living in Brussels attempt to name child Jerusalem, but local clerk claims name not on list permitted by Belgium, sends them to embassy to secure official confirmation of name's validity
The municipality of Belgium's capital city has refused to register the name of an Israeli-born baby, claiming 'Jerusalem'
is not a valid name for a child, news site JSSNews reported.
According to Brussels' city hall, the name Jerusalem is not on the list of names allocated for children born in the Belgium. Despite the absence of Israel's capital from the list, one local township did manage to make the cut – Bethlehem.
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According to JSSNews, the baby's parents, Hagar and Alinadav Hyman, have been living and working in Belgium for three years. After giving birth to their first child they decided to name her Alma Jerusalem.
“We are both Jerusalemites; we grew up in Jerusalem; we met in Jerusalem and we very much miss the city, so we decided to call our first child Jerusalem,” the father told JSSNews.
The Brussels City Hall clerk, the website reported, offered the parents a compromise: If the couple could secure an official letter from the Israeli embassy in Belgium confirming their claim that Jerusalem was in fact a valid name for a child, then the municipality would issue a birth certificate for the infant bearing that name.
The mother, Hagar, told JSSNews that she learned from the municipal clerk that despite Jerusalem's absence from the name-pool, Bethlehem had made the cut and could therefore serve as local alternative. She also said a man in line next to her wanted to give his son a 25-letters-long name.
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