Louisiana Law Makes These Baby Names Illegal

Are you soon going to become a parent or even just thinking about what you'll name your baby when you do?

Well, you're going to want to take a look at what baby names are illegal in Louisiana before you make your decision.

Illegal Baby Names In Louisiana

When you find out you're going to be a parent, at some point there are a million different worries and questions that almost immediately come with it.

What can I do to make sure my baby is the healthiest it can be?

What if I'm not a good parent?

How am I going to afford this baby?

We could go on forever about how parents-to-be question themselves to the point of insomnia because we've been there.

Obviously, at some point, the decision has to be made concerning what the baby's name will be.

That task alone can keep you up for nights because the decision you eventually make is a decision that will last a lifetime.

Some parents go the traditional route, using names from past family members to carry on a loved one's memory, while some decide to break the mold and come up with completely new and unique names.

But, are there names that are against the law?

Yep.

Baby Naming Restrictions in the US

What you can and can not name your baby varies from state to state, but there are a few naming restrictions that are enforced for the United States as a whole.

From usbirthcertificates.com -

"Parents in the United States have quite a lot of freedom when it comes to naming their children. The right to choose a child’s name, however, comes with a few restrictions. Most of these have been put in place either for practical reasons or to protect the child.

While there is no strict rule about how many middle names a citizen can have in the US, there are limitations to the number of characters in a name in certain states. Numerical digits are prohibited by naming laws in several states."

Some of the most common naming restrictions prohibit parents from naming their children derogatory terms, obscenities, numbers, hyphens, offensive names, and more.

You can read more about U.S. laws concerning baby names over at usbirthcertificates.com.

Illegal Baby Names In Louisiana

Are there any illegal baby names in Louisiana?

There certainly are, and one of them might surprise you.

In addition to the U.S. laws concerning baby names in the U.S., Louisiana has a couple more that need to be observed.

It is against the law in Louisiana to name your child an obscenity.

That's a good law we hope is enforced for generations to come.

Louisiana law also prohibits last names from being put together using a hyphen.

So, if the mother's last name is Smith and the father's last name is Jones, you can't hyphen them together as Smith-Jones.

From thebump.com -

"You can’t name your child an obscenity in Louisiana, or use diacritical marks (so, André isn’t allowed).

As for the last name, if the mom wasn’t married within 300 days of the birth, the baby’s surname must match his mother’s name. If mom is married, baby’s surname must be the same as her husband, unless the parents agree to change it."

Seems a little weird that "diacritical marks" are against the law in Louisiana, especially in Acadiana.