Saint Kokoria, with his father, Mootee Kokoria. The 1-year-old's parents fought for months for the right to give him his name. Photo / Jason Oxenham
Saint Kokoria, with his father, Mootee Kokoria. The 1-year-old's parents fought for months for the right to give him his name. Photo / Jason Oxenham
An Auckland couple have won a four-and-a-half month battle with the Government to name their baby son Saint.
Saint Kokoria turned 1 in December. Photo / Jason Oxenham
During their legal crusade the little boy went without an official name, causing headaches with registering for a GP, enrolling in daycare, and when the family flew to Queenstown. They had toget a letter of explanation from their lawyer about why he had no name.
This month Births, Deaths and Marriages released its annual roll call of the names it had rejected the most often in 2019, and Saint joined two dozen names - including King, Justice, Lord, Crown and Prince - on the no-no list.
Registrar-General Jeff Montgomery said the guidelines made sure the names don't cause offence, are a reasonable length and don't unjustifiably resemble an official title or rank.
They were honouring a family and cultural tradition.
"My son's father is from Kiribati and for the first grandchild the grandparents name the child, and the child is named after a family member.
"My partner's parents wanted Saint because that's the name of his great-aunt. I doubt my son's grandparents have ever even heard of Kim Kardashian."
The Kiribati spelling of Saint was Tiant, but the pronunciation was similar to Santa, so the couple wanted to use the English spelling for their son, Clements said.
The couple explained their family and cultural reasons for Saint's name in a reply to Births, Deaths and Marriages, and then engaged lawyer Bevan Marten , who wrote a letter on behalf of the couple.
In a letter from an Internal Affairs lawyer they were again turned down, but were told the Registrar-General was open to further discussions, and any additional supporting information that could be provided regarding the cultural reasons would be considered.
The Registrar-General then decided in May last year to allow Saint's name to be registered.
Saint Kokoria and his dad, Mootee Kokoria. Photo / Jason Oxenham
Montgomery wrote that they had compelling reasons to name their child Saint.
His reasons also included that given the name Saint was conferred posthumously it was unlikely to cause confusion in New Zealand if the name was registered while the child was alive and, for the same reason, it was unlikely the name would be used for mischevious or fraudulent purposes.
"The use of the name may cause some confusion overseas with large religious populations, but there is now increased use (hence less risk of confusion) in the United States."
Names that resembled titles or ranks could be used if the parents could provide adequate justification, Montgomery told the Herald on Sunday.
Saint Kokoria, with his father, Mootee Kokoria. The 1-year-old's parents fought for months for the right to give him his name. Photo / Jason Oxenham
The Registrar-General performed an important role in protecting children from harmful names, Marten told the Herald on Sunday, when asked about his involvement in Clements' fight.
"But the state should be slow to intervene where the parents' choice is merely unusual.
"I was very pleased to assist in baby Saint's case. He will be proud of his mother when he learns how she fought for the Kiribati tradition in which he was named."
