It is so interesting to me that there are actually names that are illegal to give your children! In the United States, we pride ourselves on our free speech and our ability to make our own decisions. Therefore, is it fair that there are some names that we are not allowed to legally give our children?
When I heard this, I decided to venture into learning what the illegal names were around the world, and what were the reasons behind them being illegal?
Most of the list made since to me. We as parents, of course, want our children to live freely without people having preconceived notions of who they are based on their name. Therefore, I understood how the US came up with their list of illegal names. However, there were names that are illegal in other countries that were not as obvious, and I decided to search out the reason as to why there was a law that those names could not be used for babies.
Here is the list of names that are illegal to give your babies in the United States.
Names that are illegal in the US
- King, Queen, Sister, Lieutenant, Prime Minister, Lord … Names that contain any official title or rank are illegal.
- Jesus Christ … A child can be named only Jesus in the US, but parents cannot add the Christ.
- III … Under the US law, names cannot contain obscenity, numbers, symbols, or a combination of these items.
- Santa Claus … Courts believe it would be misleading to children to have a person be named Santa Claus.
- Messiah … The name Messiah comes up on the list of illegal names to give your child in the US; however, there have been cases of parents who went to court over the name, and won the ruling, naming their child Messiah.
- Adolf Hitler … This is understandable as the name comes with negative connotations.
- Majesty – Although the name Majesty comes up the United States’ list of illegal names, there are people, including some celebrities, who have given their child this name.
- @ – A legal name cannot contain numbers or symbols.
- 1069 – A legal name cannot contain numbers or symbols.
Along with these nationally banned names, some states have their own laws regarding legal names.
Georgia – In Georgia, parents cannot include symbols or accents in their baby’s name.
New York – In New York, a first name cannot be over 30 characters long.
Ohio – In Ohio, parents cannot use numbers in the child’s name.
Texas – In Texas, names cannot be over 100 characters, and must be written using letter from the English language.
Names that are illegal around the world.
Australia – In Australia, the names Duke, Lady, and Chief are illegal because they resemble official ranks.
China – In China, the names Islam, Quran, and Muhammad are illegal because they are too religious.
France – In France, you cannot legally name your child Nutella because that would open the child up to be teased after being named from a chocolate spread.
Germany – In Germany, you cannot legally name your child Osama Bin Laden (for obvious reasons), or you cannot name your child Matti. The name Matti is said to be too gender ambiguous.
Japan – In Japan, you cannot legally name your child Akuma, which means devil.
Mexico – In Mexico, there are 62 names you cannot legally give your children. These include Burger King, Batman, Panties, Calzon, Twitter, Pocahontas, and the very popular Kevin.
Portugal – In Portugal, the government has banned shortened versions of names as official names. For example, you cannot name your child Tom; the name must be Tomas.
Spain – In Spain, the name Wolf is illegal because it is an animal’s name and could cause teasing to the child.
Sweden – In Sweden, you cannot legally give your child the name any noble has used for their children. Some illegal names include Superman, Elvis, Veranda, and the ever-popular name: Brfxxccxxmnpcccclllmmnprxvclmnckssqlbb11116 (pronounced Albin).
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