Parent asks for suggestions after discovering restrictions on naming kids in Australia

Many people start thinking about baby names long before their first child is born, often considering meanings or honoring loved ones. But not every country allows complete freedom in naming, and Australia is one of them. A Reddit user, u/jmads13, recently shared a post about the specific naming restrictions in Victoria, Australia, that many might not know about.

The user admitted that they recently got to know about the restrictions and wrote, "Just registered our newborn baby today and came across name restrictions that I didn’t know existed. We chose a common classic name, so no issue, but had me thinking about how many celebrities would fail to be named/name their kids in my home state (Victoria, Australia)."

The person shared how parents can't use these titles or terms in their kids' names. This includes judicial, military, or civil law titles such as Colonel, Commander, Commissioner, Inspector, Judge, Justice, or Marshal, as well as religious titles "Bishop, God/Goddess, and Saint." Next, they highlighted that parents cannot use political titles such as Premier, President, or Prime Minister as part of a child's name, but also added, "Please note that this list serves as an example only. It is not exhaustive and BDM can refuse to register a name based on any of the other provisions of this policy and the Act.”

According to the official government website of Victoria, they prohibit a name if it's "obscene or offensive," "can't be established by repute or usage" or is "contrary to the public interest." They stated that a name is obscene or offensive if it's a swear word, has descriptions of lewd or sexual acts, or is a racial, ethnic or cultural slur. The new parent concluded the post by asking if anyone knew of any other names that can't be registered in Australia.

People shared their views on the subject and u/nameselijah commented, "I knew someone from Michigan named Lake Majestic so they wouldn’t pass the vibe test." u/rawbface wrote, "I think people rightfully hate on some of the naming trends in the USA but I'm glad to live in a place with relatively few name restrictions. All the Aidens and Braelynns are just the price of freedom." u/DrakanaWind added, "Honestly, those all make sense to me. I've known a King and a Princess, but I live in the U.S. I can see how those names might cause issues in a country with a royal family."

u/bluepearlwest wrote, "My dad's legal first name is Saint, and so are his uncles, and his grandfathers." and u/chubiusa_tsukino remarked, "In the United States many states have name restrictions. Where I live we cannot use accents which made us a little sad because I was going to use a French name for our youngest daughter after a relative who has an accent over a certain letter in her name without the accent the name looks like it’s pronounced differently. So we didn’t use that name."