Lucifer, Mafia No Fear and Anal Are Among 77 Names New Zealand Parents Can’t Use on Their Babies
Kiwi children born to New Zealand parents or migrants have the country's Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages to thank for because they got decent and normal names, not names they would be ashamed of when they grow older.
The agency released a list of 77 names that parents can't use on their children after it had to turn down the past 12 years several names that it deemed unfit. At least six pairs of parents wanted to name their toddler Lucifer, while two sets wanted to use Messiah.
To help Kiwi parents be spared the problem of thinking of another name for their newborns, the agency said the name must not cause offense to a reasonable person, not be too long and should not resemble and official title or rank.
Thus, it is not surprising that since 2001, the registrar thumbed down 62 times the name Justice and 31 times King.
Also rejected was the inclusion of numbers or punctuation marks to avoid the names appearing like passwords. That was the reason why 4Real was not allowed or * and .
In the causing embarrassment category are the names Anal and Mafia No Fear.
It is not just the registrar that has rejected unusual names. In 2008, Judge Rob Murfitt of the New Zealand Family Court ordered the parents of a nine-year-old girl to change her name because the one they gave her - Talula Does The Hula From Hawaii - caused embarrassment to the child and makes her a potential bullying victim.
However, in 2008, the registrar allowed a twin to be named after the popular cigarette brand Benson and Hedges, and also allowed two kids to be named Violence and Number 16 Bus Shelter.
Other countries too have naming laws such as Sweden which bans difficult to pronounce such as Brfxxccxxmnpcccclllmmnprxvclmnckssqlbb11116.
The Dominican Republic planned in 2009 to ban the use of car brands or fruit names for use on children.
These are the 77 banned names in New Zealand and the number of times the agency has rejected their use.
Justice: 62
King: 31
Princess: 28
Prince: 27
Royal: 25
Duke: 10
Major: 9
Bishop: 9
Majesty: 7
J: 6
Lucifer: 6
using brackets around middle names: 4
Knight: 4
Lady: 3
using back slash between names: 8
Judge: 3
Royale: 2
Messiah: 2
T: 2
I: 2
Queen: 2
II: 2
Sir: 2
III: 2
Jr: 2
E: 2
V: 2
Justus: 2
Master: 2
Constable: 1
Queen Victoria: 1
Regal: 1
Emperor: 1
Christ: 1
Juztice: 1
3rd: 1
C J: 1
G: 1
Roman numerals III: 1
General: 1
Saint: 1
Lord: 1
. (full stop):1
89: 1
Eminence: 1
M: 1
VI: 1
Mafia No Fear: 1
2nd: 1
Majesti: 1
Rogue: 1
4real: 1
* (star symbol): 1
5th: 1
S P: 1
C: 1
Sargent: 1
Honour: 1
D: 1
Minister: 1
MJ: 1
Chief: 1
Mr: 1
V8: 1
President: 1
MC: 1
Anal: 1
A.J: 1
Baron: 1
L B: 1
H-Q: 1
Queen V: 1