If you're looking for a unique baby name that breaks the mould, you might want to make sure it's not banned in the country where you live - or somewhere else.
There are a few fairly common names for boys and girls that are actually illegal to give out in certain nations around the world. In fact, you probably know someone whose name is banned in another country.
There are also some very strange and specific names that authorities have banned, and you just know there's a story behind each one.
Here are some of the most unexpectedly (or expectedly) illegal names from countries around the world, according to Stacker and Name Berry.
X Æ A-12
Elon Musk and Grimes' baby boy arrived with arguably the most bizarre baby name ever concocted, and there's a reason why. Basically, no one could figure out how to pronounce it or what it means.
But that didn't stop the then-couple from going for it with X Æ A-12, a name that we always have to copy and paste because they couldn't just stick to letters on the keyboard.
It turns out that "Æ" was also too much for the state of California, and the couple was eventually forced to tweak their baby's name on his birth certificate to fit the official baby name rules.
He's now known by the slightly less unusual name of X AE A-XII.
Adolf Hitler
You'd think that no one would dare name their kid "Adolf Hitler" in 2022, but people have tried, and a few governments have actually had to outlaw it to make sure parents get the hint.
The name is already illegal in New Zealand, Malaysia, Mexico and Germany.
Allah/God
It's illegal to name your baby God in Australia, as the country doesn't allow parents to give their children religious monikers.
Similarly, a U.S. couple in Georgia had to go to court to name their Zalykha Graceful Lorraine Allah, Allah being the Arabic word for God.
Georgia law requires a baby to have at least one parent's last name, but the couple fought that and won the right to use Allah instead.
In other words, you could give this a try if you really wanted to, but you might be in for a big court battle.
Talula Does the Hula from Hawaii
Talula Does the Hula from Hawaii famously became an illegal name after a man from New Zealand chose it for his daughter back in 1999.
The girl was so embarrassed by the name that she got help from the legal system. A judge eventually ruled that the name made "a fool" of the girl and ordered that it be changed, and that she be taken away from the man who named her.
Brfxxccxxmnpcccclllmmnprxvclmnckssqlbb11116:
A couple in Sweden really tried to push it by naming their child Brfxxccxxmnpcccclllmmnprxvclmnckssqlbb11116 in 1991. They said it was pronounced "Albin," but Swedish authorities stepped in and rejected the name because it didn't fit their definition of a "suitable" first name.
The couple later tried to get away with calling their boy "A," but that was again shot down because Sweden has some pretty clear laws around which names are and are not OK.
Carolina and Enrique
There are some names on the list of illegal baby names that sound very normal… at least in North America.
However, the names Carolina and Enrique are actually illegal in Iceland. That's because the Icelandic alphabet doesn't include the letter C, and the name Enrique can't be pronounced under Icelandic grammar.
Punctuation
If you want to get fancy and name your child after punctuation, you're probably going to have some trouble.
Many governments have restrictions around using punctuation marks and nothing else in a baby's name.
In New Zealand, for instance, they've banned the use of "." as a name because not only is it not really a name, but how does one even go about pronouncing it?
It could be "period," "full stop," or "dot," so New Zealand decided to end the confusion by simply banning it altogether.
Sarah
It's hard to go through life without meeting a Sarah in most parts of the world. Given how commonly it's used across most cultures, it might be the "Mohammad" of girl names.
Except in one country.
The name and spelling "Sarah" is actually banned in Morocco because it's not traditionally Moroccan. However, Sara is allowed because that's the correct way of spelling it according to Moroccan traditions. That's according to the country's government-approved list of names that fit the "Moroccan identity."
Lucía
"Lucía," which means "graceful light," is banned in California. Despite its beautiful meaning, the name is banned because it has an accent, and California has banned the use of accents in names.
But it's not only accents that are not allowed. Numbers and special characters are also banned, as we saw with Elon Musk's baby. Basically, anything outside of the 26-letter English alphabet is not permitted.
