Titles and numbers among the Kiwi baby names rejected

What’s in a name? Well, usually letters, for a start.

The Department of Internal affairs has released a list of baby names it declined last year — two of which were not names, but Roman numerals II and III.

A total of 66 names got the boot and included mostly a mix of royal titles, military ranks and possibly a kind of lipstick.

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.

Saint was always a popular choice with parents — with three applications received for that moniker.

There was also a number of names with unique spellings that could have been passed as a royal title.

Among those gems were . . Heaven-Princezz-Star, Kingdavid, Lee-Royal, Majestee-Honours, Princess-Dixie-Rose, Prinze, Prynce and Kyro-King.

Other parents felt their little ones were on equal levels as the Almighty — depending on what you believe in — and offered the likes of: Allah, Emperor, Emprah, Messiah, Majesty 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 — something that happened if families wanted to present their reasons behind a certain name that had failed the criteria.

Last year’s top baby names were Oliver and Charlotte — the same as 2017; while Nikau and Mia were the top favourites for Ma¯ori baby names.