14 January 2019

Under New Zealand law, parents are free to be creative when naming their baby. While there are no “banned” names in New Zealand, there are certain boundaries in place. New parents can register their child using SmartStart, an online tool providing a range of services for new babies.

Jeff Montgomery, Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, says the guidelines make sure the names don’t cause offence, are a reasonable length, and don’t 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,” explains Mr Montgomery.

“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 silly name, but remember your child has to live with it!”

If a name appears to fail the criteria, it can be reviewed by the Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages.

The family then has an opportunity to present their reasons for the name, and these may be accepted by the Registrar-General, on a case-by-case basis.

Of the nearly 60,000 babies born in New Zealand each year, less than 1% of babies have their name personally considered by the Registrar-General.

In 2018, there were over 18,000 unique first names registered for children. The top names this year were Oliver and Charlotte, with Nikau and Mia taking out the top spots for Māori names.

Below is a list of names declined by the Registrar-General in 2018. For the full list of most popular baby names and to find out more about registering your baby, head towww.SmartStart.services.govt.nz

Declined baby names for 2018

ENDS

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