Jama, Application of
| Decision Date | 26 July 1966 |
| Citation | 272 N.Y.S.2d 677,51 Misc.2d 9 |
| Parties | Application of Robert Paul JAMA to change his name to Robert von Jama. |
| Court | New York City Court |
Michael Goldberg, Jamaica, for petitioner.
This is an application for judicial approbation for a change of name pursuant to sections 60 et seq. Civil Rights Law. The petitioner, Robert Paul Jama, seeks to call himself Robert von Jama and alleges that somewhere, sometime, in the past his deceased father told him that the family name was originally von Jama but that the von part had been dropped and the name Jama alone was used.
The petitioner, an American-born citizen employed by the City of New York, is twenty-three years of age and asserts in his petition that he wants a German genealogy and to be accepted as such 'rather than as a person of Slavic genealogy'; further, that all his friends and acquaintances are of Germanic stock, and because the name Jama does not reflect his Germanic origin, so he says, he seeks to Germanize his patronymic.
It is unnecessary to reflect upon the Slavs, for historically they are an heroic, industrious and friendly people and have contributed a great deal to the growth of this country. Likewise, until recently the Germanic race had the same qualities. The moral guilt of the Germanic peoples in adopting the philosophies of a monstrosity and his cohorts has not yet been fully eradicated or been forgotten. Millions of slaughtered human beings of all races, creeds, ethnic and religious groups are a sacred monument to this black period in world history. It may not be amiss here to refer to the review in the New York Times Book Review Section of June 12, 1966, wherein a commentary was made on the 'Memoirs of Adenauer' by C. L. Sulzberger:
The court does not intend by these observations to condemn an entire nation nor its people but cannot reconcile petitioner's desire to affiliate himself with such close affinity with the von. His deceased father did not see fit to make any...
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Halligan, Application of
...242 (Civil Court, N.Y.Co., 1967); Matter of Middleton, 60 Misc.2d 1056, 304 N.Y.S.2d 145 (Civil Court, N.Y.Co., 1969); Matter of Jama, 51 Misc.2d 9, 272 N.Y.S.2d 677 (Civil Court, N.Y.Co., 1966); Matter of Filoramo, 40 Misc.2d 598, 243 N.Y.S.2d 339 (Civil Court, N.Y.Co., As petitioner ackno......
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Halligan, Application of
...names denied the applicants' ancestral heritage; compare with Matter of Middleton, 60 Misc.2d 1056, 304 N.Y.S.2d 145 and Matter of Jama, 51 Misc.2d 9, 272 N.Y.S.2d 677 which denied the applications because the proposed names indicative of the applicants' ancestry were considered somehow ...
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Green, Application of
...is but a cumulative procedure and not a restriction. Application of Wing, supra; Lana v. Brennan, Sup., 124 N.Y.S.2d 136; Matter of Jama, 51 Misc.2d 9, 272 N.Y.S.2d 677, where a similar application, to prefix Von to the surname, was denied by this court; Matter of Filoramo, 40 Misc.2d 598, ......
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Applications of Greenfield
...to discard that Jewish-sounding name in order to take a vacation. In Matter of Green, 54 Misc.2d 606, 283 N.Y.S.2d 242; Matter of Jama, 51 Misc.2d 9, 272 N.Y.S.2d 677; Matter of Wing, 4 Misc.2d 840, 157 N.Y.S.2d 333; Matter of Filoramo, 40 Misc.2d 598, 243 N.Y.S.2d 339, this Court reviewed ......