New Zealand rules out common baby name for being too ‘sexualised’

The government released its big list of banned names for 2023, and an old-fashioned girl's name was on the rejected list.

Pilar Grace

less than 2 min read

January 28, 2024 - 4:16PM

Woman with unfortunate name warns parents

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In New Zealand, giving children names that resemble official titles is illegal, which is probably why Prince, Bishop, Major, Princess, and King were among the most commonly rejected names parents tried to give their kids in 2023.

The New Zealand Department of Internal Affairs just released its list of banned baby names for last year, and the rejected names are… interesting.

Thanks to the overseeing body, there won’t be any little Kiwi Sovereign-Kashes, Royalty-Reigns or Aazalyah Royaals growing up.

And there also won’t be any little Fannys.

The old-fashioned name was among the banned because besides being a shortened form of the name Frances, it’s also used to describe female genitalia in many English-speaking countries.

Judging from the rejected names list, parents have a high opinion of their children, especially those who tried to name their babies Royal, or failing that, one of the name’s variants: Rhoyael, Royaal, Royalty or Royalty-Reign.

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Fanny was on the list of banned names. Photo: iStock

New Zealand releases list of banned baby names

The department has a list of clear rules for which names will get the green light and which won’t.

The tips include:

Don’t use official titles or ranks, or names that resemble one
Don’t use numeric characters or symbols, like a backslash or a punctuation mark
Avoid names that might be considered offensive
Limit the name to 70 characters, including spaces

Australian baby name trends

According to the 2023 McCrindle report on Australian baby names, Aussies have a preference for classic names for both boys and girls, and unique spellings of classic names are trending.

Gender neutral names are coming into fashion, (think Frankie or Billie) and conversely, so are old-fashioned names like Nora, Margot, Adeline, Vincent and Lennox.

Despite newbie names to the top 100 list like Remy, Alfie, Koa for boys, and Eliana, Thea and Gracie for girls, the names Charlotte and Oliver still hold the number one spots for girls and boys. Oliver has been in first place for 10 years, while Charlotte has been on the top 10 list since 2010.