British court prevents mother from naming her daughter Cyanide

LONDON — A woman from Wales cannot name her baby daughter Cyanide, a British court ruled Thursday.

The woman, whose name cannot be published for legal reasons, has infant twins and wants to name her son Preacher and her daughter Cyanide, saying the poison is a “lovely, pretty name” with positive associations because it helped kill Nazi leader Adolf Hitler.

Local officials objected, and a family court judge ruled against the mother in September, saying she was not acting to secure her children’s welfare.

She challenged the ruling, saying it was her right to choose her children’s names. But three Court of Appeal judges upheld the earlier decision in a judgment published Thursday.

One of the justices, Eleanor King, said it was “one of those rare cases” in which judges should intervene.

“It is hard to see how … the twin girl could regard being named after this deadly poison as other than a complete rejection of her by her birth mother,” she said.

The woman has a history of drug abuse and mental health problems, and her children have been placed in foster care.