CNN
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Some parents in New Zealand do not seem to receive messages. Again, King has tops the list of baby names rejected by the country’s registrar general.
The royal title led the list of banned baby names for 14 consecutive years until 2023, when Prince was replaced by the 2023.
Other imposing references, including Duke, Odor and Emperor, are also the country’s no go.
New Zealand registered 60,000 births last year and rejected 38 proposed names according to a letter from John Crawford Smith, the Home Office’s Chief Advisor.
Under the law, baby names must not include numbers or symbols for any unfairly long period of time. They must also refrain from resembling official titles, pursuant to the Birth, Death, Marriage and Relationship Registration Act 2021, and rank “without proper justification.”
New Zealand is a constitutional monarchy that is part of the British Commonwealth and calls King Charles III king. According to Crawford-Smith, I’m not sure if the 11 parents who applied to call the king of children meant it as an ode ode to Charles, but everything was asked to reconsider.
In 2024, more than 1,000 children in the United States were called Kings, according to the Social Security Agency. (Liam and Olivia were top names in the US last year).
Most of New Zealand’s rejected names had royal links. Prince’s ten applications were rejected, and the princess was followed by four. Names such as Kingi, Kingz, Prinz, Prynce, Royalllty were also prohibited. This is because department staff may also consider how their names sound when spoken when deciding whether to be approved or not.
Authorities will also consider community awareness of the proposed name. That may be why other names have been rejected, including both strains of cannabis, sativa and indica.
Fannie, once a popular name, was also rejected.
Before the registrar general makes a final decision, parents are given the opportunity to explain their rationale. “We continue to encourage parents to think carefully about their names,” Crawford Smith wrote in the letter. “The name is a gift,” he added.
New Zealand is not the only country that imposes laws regulating newborn names.
In 2015, a French judge in the northern part of the country refused to name two parents their child Nutella because of the risk of humiliation.
There is also a nomenclature in Sweden, with attempts to name the children “Superman”, “Metalica”, and “BRFXXCCXXMNPCCLLLLLLLMMNPRXVCLMNCKSSQLBBBB1116”.
In the US, several naming battles are concentrated on adults.
In 2008, the judge allowed an Illinois school bus driver to legally change his name to “in the gods” and change his last name to “We Trust.”
However, in the same year, the New Mexico Court of Appeals ruled against a man (the man named Variable) who wanted to change his name to “F-Censor!”
