Sir, Rogue, Severe and Messiah are among dozens of Kiwi names rejected because they were too bizarre or offensive for newborns since rules came in 21 years ago.

Internal Affairs has declined 494 name requests since legislation was introduced in 1995.

One child was set to be called 4Real before the proposal was vetoed and another narrowly avoided being dubbed "Anal". Fifteen people were also denied calling their offspring "/".

The department's rules forbid any name that implied a child held a title or a rank, so "Duke", "Prince", "Princess" and "Majesty" were dismissed.

The name rejected the most times was "Justice" - a total of 77.

Graham Stronach, business advisor for Births, Deaths and Marriages, said names deemed offensive, such as swear words or those of a religious nature, such as "Christ" would be blocked.

"We run a check on every name to make sure they fall within the rules," he said. "Names which use more than 99 characters are also not allowed as they are too long."

Every application is considered on an individual basis and unusual names are reviewed and compared to lists of banned names, Stronach said.

"If a name causes us concern we go back to the parents and ask them for an explanation as to why they think this particular name should be used.

"If we deny a request, people usually accept this but they have an option to go to the family court for a review of our decision if they don't agree with it."

Stronach insisted there was nothing to stop people calling their kids after popular movie or cartoon characters, as long as they were not considered offensive.

"Names being a bit odd or strange is generally not an issue, as long as they do not cause offence to a reasonable person.

"Most people are aware that anything too over the top is not helpful to a child because it is the child who has to live with the name."

In the past, names including "V8", "*" and "Mafia No Fear" have also been blocked.

BANNED: THE NAMES NO KIWI COULD HAVE

Justice - 77 rejections
King - 43
Prince - 43
Royal - 38
Princess - 37
Duke - 19
Bishop - 16
/ (in name) - 15
Messiah - 13
Royale - 12
Majesty - 11
Major - 10
Knight - 9
Lucifer - 7
J - 6
Queen - 6
Using brackets around middle names - 6
Judge - 4
Lady - 4
. (in name) - 3
Christ - 3
Empress - 3
Justus - 3
Justyce - 3
Regal - 3
Rogue - 3
Sir - 3
Using back slash between double-barrelled surname - 3
( ) name in brackets - 2
3rd - 2
Chief - 2
E - 2
I - 2
II - 2
III - 2
Jr - 2
Lord - 2
Master - 2
Mr - 2
President - 2
T - 2
V - 2
89 - 1
* (star symbol) - 1
9 - 1
2nd - 1
4real - 1
5th - 1
A.J - 1
Anal - 1
Baron - 1
C - 1
C J -1
Commodore - 1
Constable - 1
Corporal - 1
D - 1
Dr1
Dame - 1
Duchess - 1
Dukey - 1
Eminence - 1
Emperor - 1
G - 1
General - 1
Goddess - 1
Honour - 1
H-Q - 1
Impryss - 1
Juke - 1
Justis - 1
Justyce-Lee - 1
Juztice - 1
Kingz - 1
Kyng - 1
L B - 1
M - 1
Mafia No Fear - 1
Majesti - 1
Majezty - 1
Mayjor - 1
MC - 1
Minister - 1
MJ - 1
MMMR - 1
Pryncess - 1
Prynce - 1
Queen V - 1
Queen Victoria - 1
Roman numerals III - 1
Royaal - 1
Royahl - 1
Royal-Rule - 1
S P - 1
Saint - 1
Sargent - 1
Sarjant - 1
Senior Constable - 1
Severe - 1
Suprintedent - 1
Using back slash between middle names - 1
Using brackets around middle name - 1
V8 - 1
VI - 1
Y - 1