ABC Journalist Kristen Drysdale recently gave birth in New South Wales. She is also working on a story for WTFAQ on what you can legally name your baby at birth. In a case of mixing work with personal life, Kirsten decided to name her baby something so bizarre that surely the baby name registrar would step in.
That name?
Methamphetamine Rules.
In a twist Kirsten didn’t expect, the NSW Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages did not deny her choice of baby name and now her son’s legal name is Meth Rules, for the time being.
‘I did this in the name of journalism’
Kirsten sat down with A Current Affair Allison Langdon to explain what exactly happened and to defend her decision to name her son Methamphetamine Rules.
Allison grilled the new mum from the start, clearly concerned why anyone would name their son something so vulgar.
“Did the epidural block the brain? Why would you do this to your baby boy?” Langdon began.
“I did this in the name of journalism, Ally,” Kirsten replied.
As Kirsten explains, her goal was to figure out what default name the Registrar chooses for babies whose first submissions aren’t accepted by the government body. By going with something as terrible as Meth Rules, she assumed the name would be rejected and her son would be given the default name.
Methamphetamine Rules, we thought would surely get rejected, and then when it does, we can find out what name the Registrar chooses,” she told news.com.au.
“It was really just a lighthearted, curious attempt to get an answer to this question.”
Of course, it didn’t work because the Registrar allowed baby Meth Rules to be used and now Kirsten’s son’s birth certificate has this name on it.
‘No lasting harm done’
Kirsten explains on A Current Affair that the Registrar admitted it was a rare oversight, and Kirsten’s son’s real, “normal” name should be approved any day now, assuring viewers that there was “no lasting harm done”.
However, host Allison Langdon wasn’t too sure.
The host continued,
I know that when you fill in a passport form you have to answer if you’ve gone by another name, so baby Meth won’t have to tick ‘yes’ to that?”
Kirsten argued that this wasn’t the case as it was a correction on his birth certificate.
We checked what the risks were before we did it and we’ve shown that there probably needs to be some tightening up of the processes to make sure when people fill out these forms that they are actually checked properly,” she said.
Allison concludes the interview by questioning whether the new mum had taken her stunt too far.
In naming her name Meth Rues, Kirsten hopes that she’s proven to other parents that questionable names could be approved by the Registrar.
I would hope that there are no parents out there who would seriously call their child a name like that. But if they are calling their child a questionable name, I think we’ve shown that there needs to be some better checks on it.”
The NSW Registry has shared a statement about the incident.
The Registry has since strengthened its processes in response to this highly unusual event,” the spokesperson said. “The vast majority of parents do not choose a name for their newborn baby that is obscene, offensive or contrary to the public interest.”
There are some pretty tight restrictions on what you can and cannot name your baby in Australia. You cannot choose a name that has an official title in it like Saint, Duke, Royal, or King and you also can’t choose a name that contains swear words, sex acts, and slurs of any kind.
Check out the full list of banned baby names in Australia.
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