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Bizarre baby names that are banned across the world

Some baby names are banned, and even illegal. Photo: Getty Images
Some baby names are banned, and even illegal. Photo: Getty Images

You might think that choosing a baby name comes down to the parents, but it turns out there are some monikers you cannot legally give to your baby.

Yep, that’s right, there are actual banned baby names.

Back in 2017, a couple was banned from naming their newborn son ‘Amber’ by French authorities, while another was banned from naming their baby girl, Liam.

Another couple had to put up a four-year-fight to name their son Yoda from the ‘Star Wars’ film franchise after an objection from the civil registry office and language council.

In fact, hundreds of baby names have been banned around the world for reasons of taste, decency or just plain silliness.

Here are the best of a bad bunch, the naughtiest names to have been struck from the record.

Banned baby names

The worst baby names in the world have been banned. Photo: Getty Images
The worst baby names in the world have been banned. Photo: Getty Images

Metallica

Maybe these Swedish parents were huge fans, but when they tried to give their daughter an ode to their favourite heavy metal band, tax officials outlawed it, deeming it inappropriate.

Miatt

Germany has an entire department (the Standesamt) which decides if names are suitable for just-borns. Miatt was rejected because it didn’t clearly show whether the child was a boy or a girl, which wouldn’t go down particularly well in today’s gender-neutral times.

Ovnis

If you’re thinking of having a baby in Portugal, you’d be wise to consult this mammoth, 80-page government doc (and have it translated to English) that tells you which names you can and can’t use.

It’s actually pretty strict, and a bit on the confusing side – Tomás is OK but Tom isn’t – and Ovnis which is Portugese for UFO is definitely on the banned list.

Nutella

Back in 2015 a court in Valenciennes, decided that a couple would not be allowed to name their daughter ‘Nutella’.

The judge decided that it wouldn’t be in the child’s best interest to be named after a chocolate spread.

“The name ‘Nutella’ given to the child is the trade name of a spread,” the court’s decision read, according to a translation.

“And it is contrary to the child’s interest to be wearing a name like that can only lead to teasing or disparaging thoughts (sic).”

Facebook

In today’s Internet-obsessed society it was only a matter of time before someone tried to name their child after a social media site. The state of Sonora in Mexico banned parents naming their baby Facebook because it is “derogatory, pejorative, discriminatory or lacking in meaning.”

The same state has also banned the names Robocop, James Bond, Circumcision, Traffic and Lady Di. (Diana IS allowed though).

@

Before you roll your eyes, the meaning behind this is actually kind of cute. In China, the @ symbol is pronounced ‘ai-ta’ and carries the meaning ‘love him’. Still, authorities didn’t think the name was appropriate and outlawed it.

Ikea

Parents in Sweden wanting to name their children after the country’s Scandinavian-inspired superstore could find themselves falling foul of the country’s naming law, enacted in 1982. The law was originally created to keep families from naming their kids after Swedish royalty, but now applies to the iconic store for reasons of name-related awkwardness.

J

Turns out Swiss naming authorities aren’t keen on initials as first names. When parents tried to pay tribute to two grandparents, Johanna and Josef, with the name J, the court in Switzerland suggested Jo instead.

Gesher AKA ‘Bridge’

Back in 1998 Norwegian authorities jailed a woman for two days when she failed to pay a fine for giving her son an “unapproved” name.

The name? Gesher, which is Hebrew for ‘Bridge’. Mum, Kristi Larsen said she was instructed in a dream to give her son the moniker, but the court were having none of it.

Cyanide

Back in 2017 a Welsh mother was banned by a high court from calling her baby twin daughter Cyanide (her brother was named Preacher).

Despite her arguments that Cyanide was a ‘lovely, pretty name’ the court ruled that the ‘unusual’ choice might harm the child growing up.

“It is hard to see how…the twin girl could regard being named after this deadly poison as other than a complete rejection of her by her birth mother,” she said.

Saint

The moniker that Kim Kardashian and Kanye West chose for their son may have been fine in the US, but, in New Zealand, where you can’t give your kids names that resemble official titles, it’s not ok. In 2018 three sets of parents had this name rejected by the naming officials within the government.

Daemon

A French couple, were keen to name their child after the character of Damon from The Vampire Diaries (who isn’t a Damon fan?). They added an ‘e’ to make it sound more French, but authorities banned it for sounding too demonic.

Talula Does the Hula From Hawaii

We’re not even joking! This bonkers name belonged to a nine-year-old girl from New Zealand before a judge had her renamed during a custody battle.

“It makes a fool of the child,” he said.

Akuma AKA ‘Devil’

In 1993 a Japanese parent called, or should we say tried to call, his son Akuma (which literally means Devil).

The authorities decided this was an abuse of the parent’s rights to decide a child’s name. Eventually, the father backed down and his son was given a new, less hellish name.

Chow Tow AKA Smelly Head

Unlike many countries, which are gradually loosening their name laws, Malaysian authorities have been clamping down on unsuitable titles in recent years, particularly those that aren’t in keeping with the religious traditions of the country. Case in point: Cantonese moniker Chow Tow, which means ‘Smelly Head’.

Snake

The 2006 tightening of Malaysia’s naming restrictions also meant the banning of Hokkien Chinese Ah Chwar, which means ‘Snake.’

Jihad

In 2017, a family in France caused a dilemma when attempting to call their child Jihad. The parents chose the controversial baby name for their little one and officials immediately alerted the public prosecutor.

Despite the controversy, Arabic experts say Jihad actually means struggle, effort or self-denial instead of holy war, which the word is often used for. Other babies in France have also previously been given the divisive name.

Peppermint

Germany has certain criteria for baby name bans. Pfefferminze (“Peppermint”) was rejected because it might cause ridicule. Equally, the moniker Stone was outlawed due to the fact that “a child cannot identify with it, because it is an object and not a first name.”

Choosing a baby name that is going to be accepted by the naming bods is a challenge in certain parts of the world (Getty Images)
Choosing a baby name that is going to be accepted by the naming bods is a challenge in certain parts of the world (Getty Images)

Linda

In 2014, the relatively inoffensive sounding Linda made Saudi Arabia’s banned baby names list, thanks to its association with Western culture.

Fañch

Last year a French court ruled a couple could not use the moniker Fañch that they’d chosen for their baby.

The court in Quimper, north-west France ruled that the new parents would not be able to use the character ñ (called a tilde) in their baby’s name.

Google dictionary describes the character as an accent (~) placed over Spanish n when pronounced ny (as in señor) or Portuguese a or o when nasalised (as in São Paulo).

Vendredi

Back in 2008 a court banned an Italian couple from calling their baby Vendredi, which translates to Friday. But although naming a baby after the best day of the week doesn’t sound that bad, the judges believed the name, taken from ‘Robinson Crusoe’, would expose their child to “mockery” and was associated with “subservience and insecurity”.

Fraise

A French couple attempted to name their child ‘Fraise’ or raspberry, but the courts claimed that the name ‘Fraise’ would incur teasing. The parents insisted that they were only trying to give their little one an original name, and eventually went with “Fraisine” instead.

Lucifer

HuffPost reported that a court in Germany had intervened when a couple tried to call their child Lucifer. And they’re not the only officials to outlaw the name, the department of internal affairs in New Zealand also decided to ban this moniker, and we can sort of see why.

Anus

We guess no one’s really wondering why this name was banned, but yep some poor kid in Denmark was very nearly named after this particular part of the human anatomy. Unsurprisingly the application was denied.

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No, we didn’t just nod off on the keyboard. That is an actual name a Swedish couple tried to give their baby back in 1996.

Apparently the name is pronounced “Albin” (yeah, we’re not sure how either), and the parents chose it as a protest against Sweden’s strict naming laws.

Sarah

Moroccan authorities banned this spelling of Sarah as it’s considered to be the Hebrew version. But spelt with no ‘h’, aka ‘Sara’, is fine as that’s the Arabic version.

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