ABC journalist Kirsten Drysdale submits the baby name "Methamphetamine Rules." Photo: Screenshot / ABC
New Zealand is notorious for rejecting dodgy baby names - sorry Royal, Messiah and Rogue - but an Australian journalist has named her baby Methamphetamine Rules in an experiment gone badly wrong.
ABC journalist Kirsten Drysdale ended up with the rather socially awkward name for her bub as part of a story for the WTFAQ (What the Faq) series of explainers.
Drysdale attempted to answer the query "What baby names can't you legally use" in Australia for the programme.
Australia has its own state laws that define what prohibited names are - such as offensive or obscene names, Drysdale said, and other more unusual names are approved by a register.
"We're in the perfect position to test their judgement out, because I'm about to have my own little bundle of joy.
"And I'm going to call it ... Meth Rules Drysdale."
She submitted the name to NSW Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages, as recorded for her broadcast.
"Presumably that name won't go through," she said.
But to her shock, five weeks later, the name was accepted with an official birth certificate in Methamphetamine Rules' name.
"Unfortunately in this instance the name has slipped through," the registry responded to her queries.
Drysdale's birth certificate. Photo: Screenshot / ABC
On average, less than five names a year were refused from about 98,000 birth registrations in New South Wales, she found.
NSW quickly issued a mea culpa, and presumably Meth Rules will get a different official name soon.
"Baby Meth's real name ... I'm not publicly disclosing it, because I don't want it to be attached to this," Drysdale told Sky News.
In Aotearoa, names can be rejected by the registrar-general of Births, Deaths and Marriages.
The most declined name in 2022 was 'King', rejected nine times. It has been the most declined name in New Zealand since 2009.
Names that do not meet the criteria are reviewed by the registrar-general on a case-by-case basis. The significance of a name to the whānau is considered on balance with how the name may be perceived by the public.
For any copycats looking to try the Aussie reporter's trick out across the ditch, be advised the government said on its website that baby names must not be offensive.
Also, it was just probably not a good idea, because as Drysdale found out, sometimes an offensive name might just slip through.
"My husband is not happy," she said of her experiment gone awry.
