Are there banned baby names in Washington State?
According to dictionary.com “While some states have strict laws that prohibit obscenities, numbers, and names that are too long, other states have no restrictions. Take laid-back California, which isn't so laid back when it comes to baby names. In fact, the state won't even allow accent marks and other diacritical marks in names like José.”
https://www.dictionary.com › baby-name-laws
What are the naming laws in Washington state?
According to thebump.com “In Washington State, there are no specific laws that explicitly ban certain baby names however the state does have guidelines regarding the registration of names for newborns. Also, if a name is deemed to be detrimental to the child's welfare, the state can refuse to register it.”
Elon Musk has had some interesting names for his kids.
Vivian Jenna Wilson
Nevada Alexander Musk
Saxon Musk
Griffin Musk
Damian Musk
Kai Musk and, X AE A-XII.
Yeah, that last one has got me scratching my head too.
Thebump.com says “While the United States of America has somewhat lax naming laws, there are still some names that you aren’t allowed to use for a child. While these differ from state to state, having a numeral in your name is mostly not allowed.”
I had a DJ co-worker who’s on the air name was Mav3rick. His parents would not have been able to name him that when he was born. This also means you’ll have to refrain from calling your child R2-D2 or C-3PO.
Today.com says, “Some states also limit the number of characters that can be used, as well as the inclusion of pictograms, obscenity, foreign characters, symbols, emojis, or any offensive language. Certain states also forbid the use of accents and/or non-English letters, which is oftentimes due to the inability of their information systems to process vital records including these characters.”
Some of the more interesting state naming rules,
California is one of the states that don’t allow the use of accents, but they do permit the inclusion of hyphens and apostrophes. This explains why Elon Musk and Grimes were able to charmingly name their child “X AE A-XII”.
Illinois
There are no restrictions on what a parent may name a child. Recent updates to the state’s computer networks even allow for quirky names such as “1Der” or “2-Riffic.”
New York
First and middle names can’t be more than 30 characters each. Last can’t be more than 40. Numbers and symbols are no-nos.
South Carolina
Want to name your baby K8? In South Carolina, you can. Numbers and symbols (think: M!ke) are both allowed.
Washington
The only guideline is on length — 30 characters for first names; 50 for middle and last.
And as you might expect, there's a few names you absolutely can't use as they will be rejected. According to Today.com , here are the banned baby names.
Santa Claus,
III,
@,
Adolf Hitler,
Jesus Christ.
It is kind of interesting to see some other names banned around the world. In Sweden you can't name your child Ikea, Woodstock in Germany, Anus in Denmark, Nutella in France, Lucifer in Iceland, Robocop in Mexico and several others were all banned, mostly due to not wanting the child to be teased.
Some countries don't want names that sound too foreign like Sandy in Saudi Arabia, Jenny in Portugal and a lot more.
Names that sound like titles like King or Prince were banned in New Zealand as well.
My family knows better than to ask me to name anything let alone children.
Read more at Today.com.