A mother-of-three has run into trouble over her unusual baby name choice for her fourth child – as the moniker might be illegal.
Byron Bay-based mum and blogger Claire Alexander-Johnston, known online as JetSetMama, already had three less than ordinary names for her children in Atlas, Everest and Zephyr.
So when she had her fourth child, she knew she wanted something unique.
Posting on Instagram, Claire revealed she intended to call her fourth child ‘Citizen’, but ran into some trouble surrounding the legalities of giving a child such a name.
A mother-of-three has run into trouble over her unusual baby name choice for her fourth child – as the moniker might be illegal (pictured with her family before giving birth)
Byron Bay-based mum and blogger Claire Alexander-Johnston, known online as JetSetMama, decided to call her fourth child (pictured) ‘Citizen’
‘Welcome to the family Citizen Sage Alexander-Johnston,’ she wrote.
‘You are 10 days old… Sorry this naming business has taken so long! We had a bit of a curve ball when we announced your name to our family, as someone pointed out, it’s possibly illegal to name you that in Australia.’
Claire continued by saying that the name Citizen ‘falls loosely under the category of “title” like “King”, “Duke”, “Lord” or “Captain”.’
‘We tried to change it. “Disco” even came back into play! But nothing else felt right for you as a Libra, with a [very sensible and grounded] Capricorn moon,’ she said.
‘So Citizen you are, and always will be – a Citizen of the world.’
Claire (pictured with another of her children) already had three less than ordinary names for her children in Atlas, Everest and Zephyr
According to legislation in Australia, there are a number of names that Births, Deaths and Marriages consider unacceptable.
These include swear words and unpronounceable names – like names that include numbers or symbols.
A further category that is considered unacceptable is contentious names that could be considered to be a title, like ‘Commissioner’, ‘Inspector’, ‘Bishop’, ‘Queen’ or even ‘Prime Minister’.
A name like ‘Citizen’ could fall into this bracket.
There are a number of names that Births, Deaths and Marriages consider unacceptable – these include names that are like titles (Claire pictured with some of her family)
Claire (pictured) and her husband said they gave Citizen the middle name ‘Sage’, because it is ‘burning, cleansing and healing’
Claire and her husband said they opted for the middle name ‘Sage’, because it is ‘burning, cleansing and healing’.
‘And look, if you have some rough teenage years, and you just wanna hang in the garage punching bongs with “Benji and the crew”, you can always roll out “Zen” as a nickname, and I’ll bring you all snacks and we’ll get through it,’ she said.
When it comes to choosing their unusual names, Claire said she and her partner put a potential moniker through a simple test before choosing it.
‘When thinking about names we like, Rich and I would put it through the “can they be a rockstar or an accountant?” test. [not that I particularly want either of these professions for any of my children, but you get the drift- “an adaptable name”!],’ she said.
Provided the name passes this test, she and Rich go ahead and call their child by that name.
Many of Claire’s (pictured with one of her children) followers on Instagram were delighted with her choice of baby name – and they said they didn’t expect any less from her
Many of Claire’s followers on Instagram were delighted with her choice of baby name.
‘Love such a solid meaningful name! My youngest son’s name is Cape!,’ one parent posted.
‘Wonderful name for a beautiful boy. Very happy for you that you were allowed the name you had your heart set on,’ another wrote.
But many were confused as to whether she had the name approved or not:
‘So has it been approved by the BDM!? Such a cool name and so hope it gets approved if its not already,’ one woman wrote.
Another added: ‘Is this his registered name or was it not approved but you’re calling him it anyway? Just wondering!!’
Claire boasts 117,000 followers on Instagram, who regularly tune into her profile for updates about her family life in Byron Bay.