New Zealand’s Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages has a list of names that are verboten for newborn babies. Some of them make a good deal of sense. Lucifer and Adolf Hitler, for example, are specifically banned. Names like those say more about the parent than the child.
Other names, not so much. Names that sound like titles of nobility are also banned. Baseball all-star Prince Fielder must be glad he wasn’t born in New Zealand. Other likely naming casualties would include actor Judge Reinhold and NBA player Baron Davis.
In today’s post-feudal world, Prince, Judge, and Baron are unlikely to be confused with actual members of the nobility. Nor are noble names likely to have any adverse social consequences for the child. Unlike, say, these names that Bart Simpson used for prank calls to Moe’s Tavern.
Inertia Wins! 