New Zealand's List Of Banned Baby Names

New Zealand's government gets the final say on what you can name your baby. Just released is the latest list of banned names.

Lucifer cannot be born in New Zealand. And there's no place for Christ or a Messiah either. In New Zealand, parents have to run by the government any name they want to bestow on their baby. And each year, there's a bevy of unusual ones too bizarre to pass the taste test. The country's Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages shared that growing list with CNN on Wednesday. As the agency put it, acceptable names must not cause offense to a reasonable person, not be unreasonably long and should not resemble an official title and rank. It's no surprise then that the names nixed most often since 2001 are "Justice" (62 times) and "King" (31 times). Some of the other entries scored points in the creativity department -- but clearly didn't take into account the lifetime of pain they'd bring. "Mafia No Fear." "4Real." "Anal." Oh, come on!

Other names on the banned list: Duke, Major, Majesty, Queen Victoria, Emperor, and Lord. Names that have brackets around them and names that feature a backslash are also banned.  One poor child was allowed to be named Number 16 Bus Shelter. A set of twins was allowed to be named Benson and Hedges.  (Tipped by JMG reader Win)