Look, I'm not one to judge a person on their name (read my name backwards for a laugh), but let's take a minute to thank whoever enforced the rule that a name has to be approved by the Registrar-General before it becomes legal - saving many a child across the motu from possible torment.
Following the release of 2022's most popular baby names earlier this week, the Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages has now revealed the list of names that were rejected.
Royalty was once again the prevailing theme among the baby names that were declined in New Zealand last year, with the likes of King, Prince, Princess and Saint reappearing on the list of proposed forenames that didn't get the stamp of approval.
For the 14th year in a row, the forename declined the most number of times was 'King', which has been the most commonly rejected name in Aotearoa since 2009.
However, a total of 13 new names were included on the list for 2022, including Biship, King-Kelly, Rhoyal, Saynt and Hosea-King.
"There are guidelines in place to ensure that names don't cause offence, are a reasonable length and don't represent an official title or rank," said Jeff Montgomery, Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages.
Names that do not meet the criteria can be reviewed by the Registrar-General on a case-by-case basis. In the instance that your baby's name is reviewed, you are given the opportunity to present the reasoning for the name. The significance of a name to the family is considered on balance with how the name may be perceived by the public, and the Department of Internal Affairs' obligations under the relevant legislation.
As per the Registrar-General, here are some tips for ensuring your baby's name meets the criteria:
- avoid official titles, using numeric characters or symbols, like a backslash or a punctuation mark
- avoid swear words
- limit the name to no more than 70 characters
- register the name via Smart Start - it's the quickest and easiest way to register a birth.
The list of names declined by the Registrar-General in 2022
- King - 9
- Saint - 8
- Royal - 7
- Messiah - 4
- Princess - 4
- Prince - 3
- Sovereign - 3
- Sire - 2
- Biship - 1
- Chiefy- Renata - 1
- Duke - 1
- Empres - 1
- Empress-Jade - 1
- General - 1
- Hosea-King - 1
- Justice - 1
- Justyce - 1
- KingJayceon - 1
- King-Kelly - 1
- Majesteigh - 1
- Major - 1
- Mayjor - 1
- Meziah - 1
- Padre - 1
- Queen - 1
- Rhoyal - 1
- Rogue - 1
- Royale - 1
- Royalty - 1
- Saynt - 1
- Soulijah - 1
- Truleigh-Saint - 1.
