Are names allowed in the spelling bee?

At one point in the movie, one of the kids spells the word Merovingian wrong, and is out. But that is the actual name of a dynasty, and not a common name, so it shouldn't have been there. Was it correct for the movie to use it?

We don't have spelling bees in my country, so I don't know the rules, but for instance, Scrabbles rules say you can't use names.