'Special Constable' is among dozens of Kiwi names rejected last year because they were too bizarre or offensive for newborns.

Internal Affairs declined 60 name requests last year, including 'Mr', 'Lucifer' and 'Christ'. One child was set to be called '3rd' before the proposal was vetoed and another narrowly avoided being dubbed 'Royal-Rule'. Five people were also knocked back for trying to name their offspring '/'.

The department's rules forbid any name that implied a child held a title or a rank, so 'Duke', 'Prince', 'Princess', and 'Majesty' were dismissed. The most popular name rejected was 'Justice', which featured six times. Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages Jeff Montgomery said names deemed offensive, such as swear words or those of a religious nature such as Christ, would be blocked.

"Numbers and symbols that cannot be pronounced, like a backslash or punctuation marks, are not allowed either, but if someone wanted to spell out a number for a name, then that would be admissible."

Names with more than 99 characters would also be rejected, but names people might consider outrageous or silly could still be approved.

"If someone wanted to call their child 'Cream Bun' there would be no objection," Montgomery said. "But parents should remember the child has to live with a name like that."

In the past names including '4Real', 'V8', and 'Sex Fruit' have been blocked.

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Banned: The names no Kiwi could have:

• Justice [6 rejections]

• / (in name) [5 rejections]

• Duke [5 rejections]

• Prince [4 rejections]

• Princess [4 rejections]

• Knight [3 rejections]

• Majesty [3 rejections]

• Bishop [3 rejections]

• Royale [3 rejections]

• King [3 rejections]

• Royal [2 rejections]

• . (in name) [2 rejections]

• () name in brackets [2 rejections]

• 3rd [1 rejection]

• 09 [1 rejection]

• Prynce [1 rejection]

• Christ [1 rejection]

• Royal-Rule [1 rejection]

• Corporal [1 rejection]

• Dukey 1 [rejection]

• Lucifer [1 rejection]

• Queen [1 rejection]

• Duchess [1 rejection]

• Justis [1 rejection]

• Major [1 rejection]

• Senior Constable [1 rejection]

• Mr [1 rejection]

• Justyce [1 rejection]

By Russell Blackstock of the Herald on Sunday