In Australia, a man holds the Guinness World Records for having the world’s longest name, which includes over 2,000 middle names. It took him about an hour recently just to pronounce his full name.
According to the Guinness World Records website, the man named Laurence Watkins applied for a legal name change in March 1990, creating a string of text that spans a whopping 2,253 words, including his first name, last name, and 2,251 middle names. As a result, he became the record holder for the world’s longest name.
Watkins stated that changing his name was a lengthy process, and he paid hundreds of dollars to have someone type out his full name. Initially, his application was accepted by the local court but was rejected by the Register General.
Undeterred, Watkins appealed the case to the New Zealand High Court (he was born in New Zealand). The High Court ruled in his favor, granting him the right to change his name.
However, shortly after, authorities amended two laws to prevent others from following in his footsteps.
At the time, Watkins worked at a public library and gave himself numerous middle names from books, including English, Latin, biblical names, and some names suggested by his colleagues.
He revealed that at his wedding, the officiant took 20 minutes to pronounce his full name. But it takes him even longer to say his own full name.
Guinness World Records asked him to recite his full name on camera, and it took him an hour to finish. He admitted that he might not pronounce some of his names correctly. Also, he had to read the document because, over the years, he still couldn’t remember his full name completely.
He was shown on camera saying, “Alright, let’s begin… Laurence Alon Aloys Aloysius Alphege Alun Alured Alwyn Alysander Ambie Ambrose Ambrosius Amias Amiot Amyas Anders Andre Andrea Andreas Andrew Andy Aneirin Anguish Anleifr…”
Watkins told the website, “I have always been fascinated by the unusual and extraordinary records that some people pursue; I really wanted to be part of that. I read the Guinness World Records book cover to cover to see if there was any record I could break, and the only one I had a chance to break was adding more names than the current record holder.”
He said that when he tells people how many names he has, they often find it hard to believe. The main challenge posed by his incredibly long name is dealing with government agencies, as none of their identification documents can accommodate his full name, which is not surprising.