November 22, 2024 13:26 PM

Banned Baby Names: 'Lucifer' & 'Mafia No Fear' Among Rejected Names in New Zealand

There are some things that a child should never be named. New Zealand has taken some control over that as they have released a list of banned baby names. Lucifer and Mafia No Fear are just a few names you'll never hear.

New Zealand's Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages recently released an updates list of baby names that were turned down. They shared the list with CNN.

Over the past 12 years, six set of parents have tried to name their child "Lucifer." They were all turned down. Other biblical terms like "Messiah" and "Christ" were also rejected.

However Lucifer isn't half as bad as some of the other names that parents tried to name their children such as "Anal," "4real," "Mafia No Fear" and even simple punctuation marks such as "." And "*."

The agency has a specific rule against names that resemble an official title or rank, so names such as "King," "Princess," "Majesty" or "Knight" are all prohibited.

The most popular banned name, which has been rejected 62 times since 2001, is "Justice." Some parents even tried to get around it by naming their child "Justus" and "Juztice," but these were also turned down.

Despite the registrar being strict on names, some strange names have been approved. In 2008, a set of twins were named after a cigarette brand, "Benson" and "Hedges." They also approved names such as "Violence," "Midnight Chardonnay" and "Number 16 Bus Shelter."

When questioned about those examples, Michael Mead of the Internal Affairs Department told CNN that "All names registered with the Department since 1995 have conformed to these rules."

Parents who don't abide by the rules are punished. In 2008, a 9-year-old girl was taken away from her parents and made a ward of the court so that her name, "Talula Does the Hula From Hawaii," could be changed.

New Zealand isn't the only country that puts band on names. Sweden has rejected "Superman," "Metallica," and "Brfxxccxxmnpcccclllmmnprxvclmnckssqlbb11116," which was pronounced as "Albin."

Here is a list of New Zealand's banned names and how many times they have come up since 2001.

Justice: 62

King: 31

Princess: 28

Prince: 27

Royal: 25

Duke: 10

Major: 9

Bishop: 9

Majesty: 7

J: 6

Lucifer: 6

Using brackets around middle names: 4

Knight: 4

Lady: 3

Using back slashes between names: 8

Judge: 3

Royale: 2

Messiah: 2

T: 2

I: 2

Queen: 2

II: 2

Sir: 2

III: 2

Jr:2

E: 2

V: 2

Justus: 2

Master: 2

Names that have come up once:

Constable, Queen Victoria, Regal, Emperor, Christ, Juztice, 3rd, C J, G, Roman numerals III, General, Saint, Lord, "." (full stop), 89, Eminence, M, VI, Mafia No Fear, 2nd, Majesti, Rogue, 4real, "*" (star symbol), 5th, S P, C, Sargent, Honour, D, Minister, MJ, Chief, Mr, V8, President, MC, Anal, A.J., Baron, L B, H-Q and Queen V.

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