A man with the world's longest name got an entry in the Guinness Book of World Records.
The man from New Zealand was born with the name Laurence Gregory Watkins. But he decided to change his name via Deed Poll on 8 March, 1990 and officially registered his mammoth label with the Department of Justice, leaving him with a whopping 2,310 first names and one family name.
Watkins says that he decided to chose Christian names that hold significance to him and his family, stating on his website that he is 'proud to be in the Guinness Book of World Records as the individual with the longest name'.
On his website, laurencewatkins.com, Watkins has written: 'I may have the longest name in the world, but to you, my family and my friends, I’m still Laurence Watkins. 'Although, I’m honoured to be in the Guinness Book of World Records for my Christian names, as each has profound meaning to me.'
Laurence's site also displays a scanned-in copy of his birth certificate, showing his original name and names of his birth parents including father, Laurence Sommerville Watkins. Also, there is a Deed Poll document as signed by the Department of Justice and Watkins himself, which says that from the date of signature, Watkins would be referred to by his incredibly long self-chosen title.
'But what is this 2,310-word-long name?' Take a look at the scanned copy of this longest name document spanning six pages.
Watkins calls himself @names2310 on Twitter.
It feels such a task to write or call him with all these names or when Watkins dies, the person who has to carve his tombstone are going to have some seriously sore hands. Also, can he himself remember his own name?
