That's an interesting question, and I'm not a lawyer, so I'm not sure that it legally requires permission, but courtesy demands that permission be asked if nothing else. Mother Theresa's representatives refused categorically to have a rose named for her.
When Jackson & Perkins named their roses for the first ladies, the first ladies worked with them during the process. They were given a choice of new roses and they chose the one they liked the most. They were also asked to name a favorite charity so that J&P could donate 10% of the sales receipts from that rose to the charity.
A couple of first ladies apparently refused the honor. Jacqueline Kennedy and Hillary Clinton are conspicuously absent from the list, so I suppose they're the ones.
I wonder if Michele Obama will have a rose named in her honor now that J&P is essentially defunct.
