Those Kiwis are funsters, aren’t they?

Just love a good old belly laugh, apparently.

It wasn’t funny enough that their best rugby union coach is in charge of the Wallabies because he couldn’t get a gig back home, now they’ve taken to calling their children funny names.

And it’s got so bad that a Family Court judge has had to get involved and decreed that New Zealand parents can call their children anything they like as long as it’s not Adolf Hitler, the Antichrist or anything likely to embarrass them.

Don’t get me wrong. I have great respect for New Zealanders.

Especially the really big Maori ones who could crush my skull like a watermelon.

But apparently some of them have got a habit of giving their kids funny names.

Like Talula Does The Hula From Hawaii.

Seriously. That was the name of the girl at the centre of the recent court case.

The Family Court judge ruled that her parents had burdened her with a "social disability and handicap" when they named her and he ordered temporary court custody for the nine-year-old until a proper name was found.

And quite right too!

Apparently the girl was so embarrassed that she had not revealed her name to any of her friends.

It’s not a new problem.

A controversy erupted last year when the New Zealand Department of Internal Affairs ruled a couple could not name their baby boy 4Real - so they threatened to call him Superman instead.

A New Zealand Internal Affairs spokesman said names were okay unless they caused offence, were more than 100 characters long or used an official title.

So if I was living in New Zealand (and a lot of people wish I was) I’d have to drop the “Sir” from the front of my name.

"It’s not for us to determine whether a name should or should not be registered because it’s unusual or funny ... it’s whether it’s offensive to a reasonable person," he said.

However, the New Zealand Children’s Commissioner lamented the "ridiculous" lack of insight some parents had into the effect the wrong name could have on their children.

Apparently other New Zealand parents have got away with some strange names over the years including Number 16 Bus Shelter, Violence and Benson and Hedges.

I can see where they’re coming from. It’s all about preparing kids to cope in the real world.

Remember when Johnny Cash sang about the boy named Sue?

When he grew up he was tough and strong because he’d had to survive the taunts of the others kids in the schoolyard.

So there is a certain twisted logic to this whole thing.

I’m taking it for granted that Number 16 Bus Shelter was named after the place she was conceived.

And everyone in the family thinks it’s really funny.

Even her brothers Back Seat of a 1988 Holden Gemini and Spare Bedroom Of Grandma’s Place While She Was At Bingo.

At first glance it seems just plain wrong to call a kid Violence, but I’m guessing mum and dad are bigger than me so I have to agree that if other people can name their kids Hope, Chastity or Joy, surely other emotions or states of mind are fair game.

As far as I’m concerned, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with little Violence knocking around with his siblings Angry, Drunk, Philandering Bastard and What’s It To Ya?

And I’m guessing that little Benson and little Hedges are twins, named after their parents’ favourite brand of cigarettes.

They’ve probably got cousins called Bourbon and Coke, Scotch and Dry and, of course, Cheap Flagon Of Plonk On Pension Day.

As for Talula Does The Hula From Hawaii, I have no idea what new name her parents found to keep the court happy.

Maybe something with a little bit of class.

Like Raindrop or Snowflake or My Dad’s An All Black Forward.

No one would ever pick on her then. Not even little Violence.