ABC journalist says naming her son 'Methamphetamine Rules' wasn't a stunt

Key Points

Kirsten Drysdale said she was surprised when the name was approved.
She was under the impression names could be rejected if they were deemed offensive or not in the public interest.
The NSW registry acknowledged it would have to “strengthen” its naming process after the slip-up.

ABC journalist Kirsten Drysdale says her phone has been “blowing up” after news of her unusual baby name went viral online.

But the media veteran says calling her son “Methamphetamines Rules” wasn’t intended as a stunt.

“We were just trying to answer a question for our viewers for our new show, What The FAQ, which was just around the rules about what you can and can’t call your baby,” she told SBS News.

In this instance, Drysdale was testing whether the NSW Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages had the power to change a baby’s name if the one submitted was deemed offensive or “unacceptable”.

Source: ABC Australia

When the registry failed to answer the question directly, she decided naming her third son something outrageous would be a “lighthearted way to find out”.

“We thought if we submitted really the most outrageous name we could think of that it would get rejected and we’d find out how that process worked,” she said.

She decided against ‘Nangs Rule’ – a slang term for nitrous oxide canisters, or ‘laughing gas’, often used as a party drug – fearing that registry staff may be unaware of the term and approve the name.

Drysdale and her husband were tossing up between outrageous names, eventually landing on ‘Methamphetamines Rules’.

Drysdale reveals she was in “complete disbelief” when that name was accepted.

“I was shocked and I thought there must have been a mistake. So I double checked, called them and they said no that’s gone through,” Drysdale described.

“Then the birth certificate arrived and I knew for sure it had happened.”

While the journalist didn’t intend for the name to go viral, both Drysdale and her family have been inundated with messages since the name went public on Tuesday.

She says she’s lucky that her family can see “the funny side” as friends notify them of “disturbing information that Kirsten called her baby meth rules”.

She hopes the Drysdale sense of humour is passed down to her son, to whom she’ll eventually have to tell the truth.

A blonde woman in a pink jumper holds a newborn to her chest while sitting in front of a computer.

The ABC journalist hopes her son will eventually see the funny side of being originally named ‘Methamphetamine Rules’. Credit: ABC News

A child’s name, once registered after birth, cannot be removed from the NSW Births, Deaths and Marriages register.

“We will of course tell him this story. We might save it for his 21st birthday or we might tell him sooner than that. We’ll see,” Drysdale said.

“I come from a very robust family … We have a strong sense of humour.

“My nickname, my real nickname, is Piggy, and I have lived with that since I was about 12 years old. So I think he will hopefully be able to see the funny side of it.”

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the registry acknowledged that it would have to “strengthen” its naming process after the flaw was exposed.

As the family undergoes the process of getting the name corrected, Drysdale has promised her son’s real name “is very normal, traditional” and “not attached to meth at all”.

The eight-part series What the FAQ will reportedly answer a series of crowdsourced questions.

The full story will air on What the FAQ on Wednesday 9pm on ABC TV and ABC iview.

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