Naming By Popular Vote?

Photo Courtesy of
Andrea Green Photography

How about a new way of naming? I was watching television this morning when they reported on a man who had started a website inviting people to help name his daughter. Stories such as this occasionally pop up, with people sometimes turning to social media or the internet. It's almost understandable - the choices can sometimes seem endless and deciding on just one (or two or three names depending on middles) can seem a daunting task.

But if approached with an open mind, it could open your eyes to a lot of new possibilities. Certainly it gives you an idea of how people will react to certain names.

Containing a disclaimer to say that they will make the final decision, this site - www.namemydaughter.com - seems to be a bit of tongue in cheek fun, and maybe even a way to share with the world how excited he is about the impending birth of his daughter. You can vote for your favourite first name and a middle name, or even suggest one if you can't see your picks listed. As of a few minutes ago the front runners were the pretty combination Amelia Mae. Hopefully the end result is just as pretty, as there are some shockers in contention - Pancake, Cthulu, Streetlamp and All-Spark are currently ranked pretty high! You can also add comments to champion your favourites.

It seems to all be a bit of fun, and is worth checking out and adding your advice, or even just to see what outlandish names people have suggested (which I am sure won't make the final cut!).

NZ's No-No Names List

You're Thinking of Naming Me What, Now?

New Zealand has some of the world's most famous naming laws. In 1995 a new Births, Deaths and Marriages and Relationships Registration Act was passed, outlining a set of rules around acceptable names for New Zealanders.

Now, you've probably heard about the parents who wanted to name their daughter "Talulah Does The Hula From Hawaii" but were turned down. But you may not have known that this was actually their daughters name until she was nine years old. It wasn't until 2008 that a family court judge ordered that her name be changed because he felt that the name was "embarrassing" and "makes a fool of the child".

Some of the main no-no's in New Zealand are:

• Names that are too bizarre or too offensive. Anal and Lucifer have been rejected for this reason
• Names that are unreasonably long
• Names that might imply that a child holds an official title or rank. Remembering that New Zealand is part of the British ruled Commonwealth, this includes Duke and Princess, as well as Justice and alternative spellings Justus and Juztice
• Stand alone letters that appear to be initials but don't stand for anything, such as CJ or MC. This might explain why we are starting to see phonetic versions such as Ceejay and Emcee in birth announcements.
• Names with numbers in them, such as the infamous Number 16 Bus Shelter, or other proposed names 4real and 2nd.
• Symbols for Roman numerals, such as I, II, III (you get the picture)
• Names that are punctuation (if you were wondering, no, it is not OK to call your child "*"), or using a backslash or brackets to indicate a second or middle name

And in case you find it hard to believe that parents would actually want to give their children such seemingly silly names as "," or V8, New Zealand officials this week released a list of names that have been rejected since 2001 - and how many times they have been denied. Happy reading!

Justice:62

King:31

Princess:28

Prince:27

Royal:25

Duke:10

Major:9

Bishop:9

Majesty:7

J:6

Lucifer:6

using brackets around middle names:4

Knight:4

Lady:3

using back slash between names:8

Judge:3

Royale:2

Messiah:2

T:2

I:2

Queen:2

II:2

Sir:2

III:2

Jr:2

E:2

V:2

Justus:2

Master:2

Constable:1

Queen Victoria:1

Regal:1

Emperor:1

Christ:1

Juztice:1

3rd:1

C J :1

G:1

Roman numerals III:1

General:1

Saint:1

Lord:1

. (full stop):1

89:1

Eminence:1

M:1

VI:1

Mafia No Fear:1

2nd:1

Majesti:1

Rogue:1

4real:1

* (star symbol):1

5th:1

S P:1

C:1

Sargent:1

Honour:1

D:1

Minister:1

MJ:1

Chief:1

Mr:1

V8:1

President:1

MC:1

Anal:1

A.J:1

Baron:1

L B:1

H-Q:1

Queen V:1