New Zealand parents hoping to name their baby Methamphetamine Rules like an Australian journalist just did need to find a new dream.
ABC journalist Kirsten Drysdale named her newborn son Methamphetamine Rules to test what happens in Australia when a baby name is rejected.
To her surprise, the name was officially registered.
But any meth enthusiasts keen to use a similar name for their own child in New Zealand would be out of luck, according to Births, Deaths and Marriages.
Registration of a name like Methamphetamine Rules would be declined in New Zealand, said Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Russell Burnard.
“In New Zealand, there are guidelines in place to ensure that names don’t cause offence, are a reasonable length and don’t represent an official title or rank,” he said.
“The law allows the Registrar-General to decline registration of names which fail to comply with those guidelines.
“As you will understand, whether a name is offensive is a judgement call. In the case of the name Methamphetamine Rules, registration would be declined on the grounds that the name might cause offence.
“Names are a gift, and they are an important part of a person’s identity. We encourage parents to think about their child and how they might feel about their name later in life.”
Burnard also discouraged people against running similar “experiments” like Drysdale’s in Australia.
The rules when it comes to naming babies in NZ
Aotearoa has several rules when it comes to giving babies a legal name.
The baby’s name needs to include a surname and one or more first names, unless religious or cultural beliefs dictate babies only have the one name.
Names also can’t be longer than 100 characters or include any numbers or symbols.
Official titles or ranks, such as Queen, Justice or Prince, are also off the cards, as are names deemed “offensive”.
The most declined baby name in New Zealand last year was King, with nine attempts by parents to register it. Saint and Royal rounded out the top three most rejected baby names.
Thirteen new names were added to New Zealand’s list of declined baby names last year.
Names that don’t meet the criteria can be reviewed on a case-by-base basis by the Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages.
Parents can also get a chance to outline their reasons for their baby’s name, which are considered alongside the public’s likely perceptions of the name and legal obligations.
Every baby name registered in New Zealand is also manually checked by a human, reducing the risk of names like Methamphetamine Rules slipping through the cracks.
Back in Australia, Drysdale told A Current Affair she had been assured all baby name applications were screened by humans and the chance of her baby’s experimental name getting through was very low.
"I knew there was in theory a very, very, very small risk that there could be some kind of human error or a system failure," she said.
"But I really didn't think this would happen."
Drysdale is now going through the process of having her son’s name officially changed.
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