Banned Names in New Zealand – What not to name your newborn baby

Some very unusual names have become banned names in New Zealand. In this country, parents are required to submit to their government the names that they want to give to their children. “Christ” is one of the names that are not allowed. The Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages have recently released the current list of banned names to the press. The list is updated every year. This agency is under the auspices of the Internal Affairs Department of the country.

Countries which are rather strict on names

New Zealand is one of a handful of countries in the world to ban unusual and bizarre names. For instance, Sweden has a law that bans monikers such as “Metallica” and “Superman.” And in the Dominican Republic a preference to name babies after fruits and cars made the government think about a ban as well.

But, unlike these countries, New Zealand has had to deal with those who had chosen “Lucifer” as the name for their child – six pairs of parents the past 12 years. They were all of them shot down as well as two pairs of parents who wanted to call their child, “Messiah.”

Reasonable criteria

The registry’s criteria are quite straightforward. The name must not be offensive to every reasonable person. The name must not be too long and it must be easily pronounceable. And the name must not be similar to any rank or official title. In accordance with this set of requirements, two of the most banned names are “King” and “Justice.” Names must not also be punctuation marks of symbols. There have been parents who thought they would name their child “*” or “.”

Usually, parents choose to conform to the guidelines and most have done so since 1995. But the state once took a girl named “Talula Does the Hula From Hawaii” from her parents. They state took the initiative to change her name to something more acceptable.

A certain level of quirkiness allowed

Though very stringent in its requirements, some quirky names have managed to slip through. The Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages names let “Violence” through. And somebody is walking around today bearing the name “Number 16 Bus Shelter.” In 2008, a pair of twins in New Zealand was named “Hedges” and “Benson” which happened to be a brand of cigarettes.

There are countries in the world where names of adults are the issue – in the United States, for example. Around five years ago, a man from New Mexico named “Variable” was denied by the Court of Appeals the petition to change his name to “F— Censorship!” Meanwhile, around the same time in Illinois, a bus driver was allowed a legal change of name to “In God” (first name) “We Trust” (last name).

Banned since 2001 in New Zealand

Aside from the banned names mentioned above, here are others on the 2013 list: “Emperor,” “President,” “Queen,” “Queen Victoria,” “Princess,” “ Prince,” “Duke,” “Knight,” “Lady,” “Royal,” “Royale,” “Majesty,” Bishop,” “Saint,” “Eminence,” “Major,””Sir,” “Master,” “Constable,” “J,” “T,” “I,” “E,” “V,” “G,” “V8,” “H-Q,” “using brackets around middle names,” “using back slash between names,” “II,” “III,” and “V.”

Photo Credit: Sleeping Infant