What's in a name?

• In New Zealand, a judge declared a girl a ward of the court in order to let her change her name. Her given name was "Talula Does The Hula From Hawaii." The judge listed examples of other odd names that had been blocked by the court, including: "Yeah Detroit; Stallion; Twisty Poi; Keenan Got Lucy; Sex Fruit; Fat Boy; Cinderella Beauty Blossom; Fish and Chips." Source.
• A 30-year-old member of the Ohio U.S. National Guard, changed his name to Optimus Prime. Source.
• Forty-three-year-old Andrew Wilson of Branson, Missouri legally changed his name to "They." He now has no surname. He explained: "They do this,' or 'They're to blame for that.' Who is this 'they' everyone talks about? 'They' accomplish such great things. Somebody had to take responsibility." Source.
• Christopher Garnett of PETA changed his name to KentuckyFriedCruelty.com in an attempt to draw attention to his protest against KFC's treatment of chickens. When PETA's campaign was over in 2006, he changed his name back. Source.
• Given his name by a political father, States Rights Gist became a Confederate general. Source.
• Robert Craft changed his name to Jack Ass. Bob's brother, Andy, died in an automobile accident, and Bob created a cartoon character named Andi Ass in his memory. Robert also helped found Hearts Across America to place hearts on the roadside where loved ones have died. Robert changed his name in 1997 to Jack Ass in "an effort to raise the awareness of others." He attempted to sue Viacom (MTV's parent company) for up to 10 million dollars for having their show Jackass give "injury to a reputation I have built and defamation of character I have created." The suit was dismissed. He later used a hunting rifle to commit suicide. Source. Source.
• David Fearn from Walsall, England changed his name to "James Dr No From Russia with Love Goldfinger Thunderball You Only Live Twice On Her Majesty's Secret Service Diamonds Are Forever Live and Let Die The Man with the Golden Gun The Spy Who Loved Me Moonraker For Your Eyes Only Octopussy A View to a Kill The Living Daylights Licence to Kill Golden Eye Tomorrow Never Dies The World Is Not Enough Die Another Day Casino Royale Bond." Source.
• Terri Iligan auctioned the right for the buyer to rename her. Casino Golden Palace payed $15,199 to change her name to GoldenPalace.com. She said she got the idea when her kids asked to attend a costly summer golf camp. Source.
• Bill Holland, a painting contractor of San Francisco, changed his name for his business. Instead of handing out business cards, he changed his name to Zacary Zzzra and told his customers to look for him in the very back of the phone book. To stay the last name in the phone book, he has since had to change his name to Zachary Zzzzzzzzzra. While it has been good for business, he receives prank pone calls from places as far away as Australia and regularly has $400 plus phone bills from pranksters charging phone booth phone calls to him. He doesn't pay for any of the prank calls, however. Source.
• "Autumn, Sullivan, Corbett, Fitzsimmons, Jeffries, Hart, Burns, Johnson, Willard, Dempsey, Tunney, Schmeling, Sharkey, Carnera, Baer, Braddock, Louis, Charles, Walcott, Marciano, Patterson, Johansson, Liston, Clay, Frazier, Foreman, Brown" was named after 25 boxing champions. Her mother, Maria, named her baby this to keep up her boxing-obsessed grandparents' family tradition of long names. Maria has a long name herself, but is proud of it. She wryly comments: "“When I was young I couldn’t ever remember my name. It took me to the age of 10 to memorise it all." Source.