A couple in New Zealand tried to name their baby '/'

Doting parents think long and hard when it comes to naming their newborns, but a select few couples in New Zealand shouldn’t have bothered after their suggestions were rebuffed by the government.

Internal Affairs has released its annual list of rejected names for 2017 which features a number of eyebrow-raising suggestions.

Among the 35 banned names includes two punctuation marks, ‘.’ and ‘/’, while others failed to pass the criteria the government sets when it comes to naming a child.

By law, names or combination of names must avoid causing offence to others, be unreasonably long or include or resemble an official title or rank.

That left parents opting for Ida-Qween, Legion-King, Prince-Pahata and Jahstice heading back to the drawing board.

“Less than one per cent of babies have their proposed name considered, but the name of any baby born and registered in New Zealand must comply with New Zealand’s rules, regardless of the nationality of the parents,” Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages Jeff Montgomery told the New Zealand Herald.

Rejected names in 2017

• .

• /

• Chief

• Duke

• Ida-Qween

• II

• III

• IV

• Jahstice

• Judge

• Justice

• Justyce

• Justyce-Krimson

• King

• Lady

• Legion-King

• Majesty

• Major

• Messiah

• Miss

• Priince

• Prince

• Prince-Pahata

• Prynce

• Regal

• Rogue

• Royaale

• Royal

• Royale-Lee

• Royall

• Royalty

• Saint

• Sovereign

• Triple M

• X

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