Shine OnNo Baby Lucifers or 4Reals: New Zealand releases list of banned baby names
If it weren't for government intervention, there would be six little Lucifers running around New Zealand right now.
The New Zealand government polices baby-naming, ix-naying the weirdest and more inappropriate names, hopefully saving its youngest citizens from lifetimes of humiliation.
The country's Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages recently shared its growing list of banned baby names with CNN.
You can't name your baby Lucifer — six sets of parents have tried in the past 12 years —nor can you swing to the other extreme and call your offspring Christ or Messiah. In fact, all names that allude to an official title or rank are banned, so there are no little Justices, Dukes or Kings in New Zealand preschools either.
(It should be noted that Justice currently ranks just below the top 500 baby names in America, as both as boy's and girl's name.)
Jessica Alba's little girl Honor wouldn't have made the cut, either.
Among the obviously horrid baby names banned are "Mafia No Fear," "4Real" and "Anal."
Since the ruling, little "4Real" was renamed "Superman." His parents still insist on calling him "4Real" at home.
Punctuation marks are also naming no-gos.
See the entire list here.
The Department insists that all registered names since 1995 have conformed to the rules, even the eyebrow-raising "Violence" and "Number 16 Bus Shelter" which somehow made the cut.
According to the New Zealand's Births, Deaths, and Marriages Registration Act of 1995, "…it is undesirable in the public interest for a person to bear a name or combination of names if, and only if, (a) it might cause offence to a reasonable person; or (b) it is unreasonably long; or (c) without adequate justification, it is, includes, or resembles, an official title or rank."
But what about stubborn parents who don't want to conform to naming rules?
Nine-year-old "Talula Does the Hula from Hawaii" was taken away from her parents four years ago so that the state could rename her. She had been so embarrassed by her name that she insisted her friends call her "K."
"The court is profoundly concerned about the very poor judgment which this child's parents have shown in choosing this name," Judge Rob Murfitt wrote in his ruling. "It makes a fool of the child and sets her up with a social disability and handicap, unnecessarily."
New Zealand might be making headlines for its banned name list, but it's not the only country saying no to crazy monikers.
Sweden has denied parents the right to name their kids "Superman," "Metallica," "Ikea" and "Brfxxccxxmnpcccclllmmnprxvclmnckssqlbb11116."
In Denmark, up to 20 per cent of names reviewed are rejected each year. Parents must choose a name from a list of 7,000 approved ones — or get special permission from both their local church and government officials.
And in Germany, government officials require that a baby's first name clearly indicates gender — Sorry, Taylor, Jamie and Storm — and can't be a surname, the name of an object, or a product name.
Earlier this year, a 15-year-old Icelandic girl fought with the government so she could keep her name, Blaer. Iceland has surprisingly strict rules about what a baby can be named. There is a Personal Names Register that contains only 1,712 male names and 1,853 female names. The purpose of the list, officials maintain, is to make sure that all names fit Icelandic pronounciation and grammar rules, and also to protect children from potential embarrassment.
In Canada and the U.S., there are very few baby-naming laws outside of the prohibition of characters like @ or numbers in names, hence Pilot Inspektor, Moxie Crimefighter and Diva Thin Muffin Pigeen. (Adolf Hitler as a name, however, can get you into trouble.)
Even with few restrictions, parents-to-be should be aware of potential naming regret. Think carefully before you name.
What the strangest baby name you've encountered?
