We may love a popular baby name list, but, quietly, we love a rejected baby name list even more.
New Zealand's Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages has published its annual list of declined baby names, and to no surprise, the most declined name in 2022 was King for the 14th year in a row.
Nine different babies were rejected from using King as their first name, and were closely followed by other regal titles Saint (8) and Royal (7).
Names that don't meet the criteria are usually reviewed on a case-by-case basis where parents can give their reasoning, and is considered on balance with how the name may be perceived by the public, and the Department’s obligations under the relevant legislation.
Guidelines for naming a child in New Zealand involve the following suggestions:
- Avoid official titles like Prince, Royal, King or Princess
- Avoid using numeric characters or symbols, like a backslash or a punctuation mark.
- Avoid swear words
- Limit the name to no more than 70 characters
Just because Kim Kardashian can call her child Saint doesn't mean you can do the same in New Zealand...
Earlier this week the list of most popular names in 2022 was released, which found Isla was the most popular girl's name, Oliver the most popular boy's name, and Riley was the most popular gender-neutral name.
Check out the full list of rejected names below, or see the year before's list of rejected baby names here.
List of baby names and the number of times rejected in New Zealand during 2022:
- King 9
- Saint 8
- Royal 7
- Messiah 4
- Princess 4
- Prince 3
- Sovereign 3
- Sire 2
- Biship 1
- Chiefy- Renata 1
- Duke 1
- Empres 1
- Empress-Jade 1
- General 1
- Hosea-King 1
- Justice 1
- Justyce 1
- KingJayceon 1
- King-Kelly 1
- Majesteigh 1
- Major 1
- Mayjor 1
- Meziah 1
- Padre 1
- Queen 1
- Rhoyal 1
- Rogue 1
- Royale 1
- Royalty 1
- Saynt 1
- Soulijah 1
- Truleigh- Saint 1
