Banned baby names: Japan just banned a whole lot of baby names for being too ‘flashy’, including one from a wildly popular series

Parents in Japan are about to face some new hurdles when naming their children.

A new crackdown means that names considered “kira-kira” or “flashy” won’t be accepted, despite how cute they sound.

Names on the banned list include Pikachu, from the Pokemon series, and Pudding.

READ MORE: Billy Joel’s wife gives update on life-changing diagnosis

The new regulations will come into effect this week. 

One of the contributing factors to some names being banned is unique features of the Japanese language, which means some characters called kanji can be pronounced multiple ways, leading to confusion, The Times reports.

When a baby is born, the family adds the name to the family register.

READ MORE: Future queen confirms move to Australia

But they never had to specify the pronunciation of the kanji, which meant it was up to the parents to decide how the name was pronounced.

This was how “kira-kira” names started to become more popular.

Some of these names include Shiizaa, or Caesar, spelt using the two characters usually pronounced kotei, meaning “emperor”. Eren, for the English name Ellen, can at a stretch be spelt using the kanji for “eternal love”.

Japanese families will now have to register their chosen baby names and the kanji spelling with a government agency.

This will mean certain names can be picked up and the families will be told the won’t be able to use them to register the birth.

For a daily dose of 9honey, subscribe to our newsletter here.

A committee reportedly spent years deciding on which names to ban.

“Names and readings of names written in kanji, like words in general, change with the times,” the liberal Asahi newspaper reported on the matter.

READ MORE: The surprisingly cheap skincare an expert recommends for winter

“Restrictions on the readings of names should be limited to the absolute minimum.

“It is easy to imagine that this process … will involve huge amounts of paperwork.”

Timeless royal names make Aussie top 100 baby names list

Other names previously banned in Japan include Akuma which means “devil”, Jiro which means “second son” and King.

Some of the baby names that have been banned in Japan

• Pikachu
• Pudding
• Akuma
• Jiro
• King
• Shiizaa

FOLLOW US ON WHATSAPP HERE: Stay across all the latest in celebrity, lifestyle and opinion via our WhatsApp channel. No comments, no algorithm and nobody can see your private details.