Your baby is on the way? Make sure that you steer clear of any names that are prohibited in the United States.
If you’ve seen the names Elon Musk has given to his kids, you know that the US has relatively lenient naming laws. However, these regulations may be different from one state to the next. For example, Kentucky has no naming restrictions, while others may impose certain rules for practical reasons.
Most states don’t allow baby names with numbers, emojis, or symbols. After all, they don’t make much sense.
The number of characters that can be used for first, middle, and last names is restricted in some states; however, this standard is not universal. On top of that, there are a few names that are banned nationwide, and you can probably guess why.
According to the records of birth certificates in the United States, the following names for infants are purportedly prohibited:
- King
- Queen
- Jesus Christ
- III
- Santa Claus
- Majesty
- Adolf Hitler
- Messiah
- @
- 1069
This list was recently addressed on a podcast called The Makeshift Project, and a significant number of listeners flocked to the following comments section to express their opinions. Some people believed that the list was not always adhered to.
A teacher commenter said, “No one is enforcing this.”
Another pediatric nurse shared, “I can’t tell you how many King,
Queen, and Messiahs I’ve taken care of.”
A third person even said, “Lies! I work with 2 children named King and Messiah. We live in the USA.”
In addition to names that are prohibited, some of the most uncommon baby names in the United States have also been disclosed, and some of them might surprise you. A childcare agency, Go Au Pair, study found that some names are so rare that only a handful of children have them in a particular state.
Here’s a list of rare baby names by state (with the number of children who share the name):
- Alabama: Zaykeese (13)
- Alaska: Atigun (5)
- Arizona: Noname (11)
- Arkansas: Maziyah (205)
- California: Alique (5)
- Colorado: Aristea (76)
- Connecticut: Nayeliz (179)
- Delaware: Naim (1,549)
- District of Columbia: Meklit (474)
- Florida: Kendly (5)
- Georgia: Nyyear (99)
- Hawaii: Lehiwa (5)
- Idaho: Moroni (255)
- Illinois: Kotryna (5)
- Indiana: Nymeir (34)
- Iowa: Brex (104)
- Kansas: Macklyn (301)
- Kentucky: Eleia (125)
- Louisiana: Ryda (5)
- Maine: Winner (212)
- Maryland: Danera (5)
- Massachusetts: Jadalys (6)
- Michigan: Fatme (10)
- Minnesota: Sabarin (5)
- Mississippi: Johneisha (40)
- Missouri: Carmya (20)
- Montana: Treysen (320)
- Nebraska: Halsey (329)
- Nevada: Eluney (113)
- New Hampshire: Babyboy (952)
- New Jersey: Mariaeduard (11)
- New Mexico: Charmayne (78)
- New York: Hudes (5)
- North Carolina: Aryya (22)
- North Dakota: Cauy (155)
- Ohio: Firman (12)
- Oklahoma: Daycee (47)
- Oregon: Trask (31)
- Pennsylvania: Pater (6)
- Rhode Island: Jahziel (883)
- South Carolina: Tradd (8)
- South Dakota: Wicahpi (6)
- Tennessee: Kavious (27)
- Texas: Taslin (5)
- Utah: Arikka (5)
- Vermont: Wylder (1,873)
- Virginia: Lakhi (37)
- Washington: Chelan (6)
- West Virginia: Haylea (480)
- Wisconsin: Yuepheng (51)
- Wyoming: Mazikeen (1,236)
Is your name on the list?