Baby Names Banned in New England With Specific Rules in NH, ME, MA

Who knew?  There are actually baby names you can't use because they're banned in New England, with specific rules in New Hampshire, Maine, and Massachusetts.  I mean, we're all familiar with vanity license plate rules.  Maybe not literally, but for the most part, we can't use vulgar language or wording that is racially or ethnically insensitive or indecent.

Naming your children something unique or plain ridiculous isn't banned, as celebrities have taught us that.  According to Vogue Magazine, some of the stranger names like "Y" or "Pilot Inspektor" make the list of unusual names.  Anyway, I was chatting with a friend of mine who is pregnant, and she was telling me about banned names, so I decided to look more into this.

Let's start with state laws. In New Hampshire, the first, middle, and last name cannot exceed 100 characters total, according to Baby Name Quest.

In Maine, you don't have any restrictions except the nationally banned list.

Meanwhile, Massachusetts only allows letters found on a standard English keyboard, according to Baby Name Quest.  This means if you were thinking of naming your baby ¦, « or ±, then you're out of luck.  Now that may seem like a given, but remember, Elon Musk and his wife named their baby X Æ A-12, according to that Vogue article I mentioned above.

Now for the list of names that are banned across the country. According to US Birth Certificates, you cannot name your baby King, Queen, Jesus Christ, III, Santa Claus, Majesty, Misteri (insert the N word here), Adolf Hitler, Messiah, @, or 1069.

Some of these names are banned because of court cases initiated by a single person or parents, which led to a nationwide ban.  You can read more about those in this article from The Huffington Post.

If you want to see names banned around the world, click here.