‘King’ the top declined name in NZ for 14th year in a row

12 January 2023

Te Tari Taiwhenua – The Department of Internal Affairs recently released the top 100 baby names in New Zealand and is now releasing the list of names that have been rejected by the Registrar General of Births, Deaths and Marriages in 2022.

The most declined name in 2022 was ‘King’. King has been the top declined name in New Zealand since 2009. A total of 13 new names were included on the declined list this year. Among these names are Biship, King-Kelly, Rhoyal, Saynt and Hosea-King.

“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” said Jeff Montgomery, Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages.

Names that do not meet the criteria can be reviewed by the Registrar- General on a case-by-case basis. In the instance that your baby’s name is reviewed, you are given the opportunity to present the reasoning for the name. The significance of a name to the family is considered on balance with how the name may be perceived by the public, and the Department’s obligations under the relevant legislation.

Below are tips for ensuring you can register your baby’s name:

• Avoid official titles, using numeric characters or symbols, like a backslash or a punctuation mark.
• Swear words
• Limit the name to no more than 70 characters
• Register the baby’s name using the link: https://www.smartstart.services.govt.nz/register-my-baby. It’s the quickest and easiest way to register a birth.