Special baby’s name not fit for King or Queen
Oliver and Charlotte most popular last year but poor wee III just didn’t add up
The name of any baby born and registered in New Zealand must comply with NZ rules.
Jeff Montgomery, registrar-general
The favourite baby names in New Zealand last year were Oliver and Charlotte, which put Gemma and Richie McCaw’s little girl in the top slot. Nikau and Mia were the top favourites for Maori baby names.
But the Department of Internal Affairs, which determines whether names are acceptable or not, declined 66 names last year. Two of them were not names, but the Roman numerals II and III.
Six babies missed out on being called King, two applications were received for the name Queen and three bubs missed out on being dubbed Royalty for life.
There were also several names with unique spellings that could have been passed as a royal title.
Among those gems were: HeavenPrincezz-Star, Kingdavid, Lee-Royal, Majestee-Honours, Princess-DixieRose, Prinze, Prynce, Kyro-King, Emperor, Emprah and Majesty.
Other parents felt their little ones were on an equal level with the Almighty — depending on what you believe in — and offered the likes of Allah, Messiah, and Saint.
The name Royale got two applications, Royelle one, Roil one and another mum just wanted everyone to know how special her wee one was, wanting the name Royale-Bubz.
Jeff Montgomery, registrar-general of births, death and marriages, said there were boundaries put in place that made sure names did not cause offence, were of reasonable length and did not unjustifiably resemble an official title or rank.
“The name of any baby born and registered in New Zealand must comply
with New Zealand’s rules — regardless of the nationality of the parents,” he said.
“For example, you’ll need to rethink swear words, names of more than 70 characters, numerals or anything unpronounceable — like a backslash or a punctuation mark.
“There’s no problem if you want to give your child a spelled-out number
or even a silly name, but remember your child has to live with it.”
Of the almost 60,000 children born in New Zealand each year, less than 1 per cent of babies had their name personally considered by the registrar-general — which happened if families wanted to present their reasons behind a name that had failed the criteria.