Everyone knows the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. Unfortunately for GG Allin, he descended from a gnarled arbor stricken with trunk rot. All Music described his father, Merle, as "a highly religious, antisocial man." Merle had a passion for Christ, and when GG Allin was born, he insisted on naming him Jesus Christ Allin. That might sound like the behavior of a megalomaniac, but Merle was just a maniac. He would later dig graves in the family cellar and threaten to kill his wife and children in a murder-suicide.

Unsurprisingly, the madman who named his son after the Son of Man did so due to a hallucination. According to the above interview with GG Allin's mother, Merle believed he had gotten his marching orders from Jesus himself, who purportedly went on a brief hiatus from heaven to uncreatively name a baby. No wise men showed up for Jesus' sort-of-second coming, but doctors, nurses, and priests showed up to condemn the decision. Unfortunately, Allin's mother got the brunt of the criticism. In fact, her own mother and siblings refused to see her.

She disapproved of the name as well but realized her husband (whom she eventually divorced) had a distinct lack of sanity. However, she found more conventional-sounding ways of addressing her son. Allin's brother, Merle Jr., mistakenly called him Je-Je, which evolved into the nickname GG. And before he started school, his mother changed his name to Kevin Michael Allin.

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