You'd think that in a world where Kanye West can name his son 'Saint' that you could name your little nipper whatever the hell you like right?
Well no actually. At least not in New Zealand anyways who have a list illegal baby names. The Births, Deaths, Marriages and Relationships Registration Act rules that you can't name your child anything that causes offence, is unreasonably long or resembles an official title or rank.
So Prince, Princess and Chief are out. So too is Superintendent.
Registrar-general of births, deaths and marriages, Jeff Montgomery – the man who deems whether names are acceptable or not – rejected 49 last year.
‘Most parents are serious,’ he told Stuff New Zealand. ‘They think it’s a name that fits their baby. They think it’s a nice name. There’s not normally anything nasty about it. They’re not intending it to be offensive.’
The rejected list from 2015 is:
Messiah 7
King 5
Royal 4
Prince 3
Royale 3
Bishop 2
Princess 2
Empress 2
/ [symbol in name] 2
() [name in brackets] 2
Sir 1
Royahl 1
Rogue 1
Knight 1
Justyce 1
Lord 1
Regal 1
Suprintedent 1
Royaal 1
Commodore 1
Justice 1
Chief 1
Sarjant 1
Impryss 1
Christ 1
Queen 1
MMMR 1
