An American girl's surname is Allah and her parents are suing to make it official

At two-years-old ZalyKha Graceful Lorraina Allah still does not have an official birth certificate in the United States. Why? Because her last name is Allah, the Arabic word for God. 

ZalyKha's parents - Elizabeth Handy and Bilal Walk - have been waiting two years to get the state of Georgia's approval. But, now they're fighting back. 

The couple has filed a lawsuit, led by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), against the state of Georgia, the state where the girl was born. 

Walk, the girl's father, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that they had chosen Allah as her surname because it is "noble."

They have another son (older) whose name is Masterful Mosirah Aly Allah. His name, however, was not questioned by the authorities at the time.

"It is just plainly unfair and a violation of our rights," Walk said, according to the BBC. 

A year after ZalyKha was born, Handy and Walk filled out a form to have her registered. That's when the couple ran into some difficulties with the state's administrative code, which sets the rules for naming conventions. 

State officials explained that the state's code "requires that a baby's surname be either that of the father or the mother for purposes of the initial birth record." 

This however can be changed through a petition to a superior court, once the birth record is created. 

In certain cases however, the code does allow names that are "in accordance with a bona fide cultural naming convention" as long as the name does not include any "numbers or symbols."

ZalyKha's case was not one of those cases.  

"It’s a First Amendment issue — an expressive act of naming your child. And it’s a fundamental right under the 14th Amendment, due process," wrote Carlton Larson, a law professor at the University of California, in his 2011 paper Naming Baby: The ConstitutionalDimensions of Parental Naming Rights.

Without a birth certificate, ZalyKha cannot enroll in school, apply for medicaid or food stamps. 

More than that, her parents "fear that their daughter’s identity as a U.S. citizen will be questioned."