When dropping off routine divorce papers 64-year-old George F. Blackburn of Bethalto, Missouri, decided to complete one more form, legally changing his name to Led Zeppelin II. LZ, or Zep, as his ex-wife and friends call, him said of the name change: “I don’t want to appear to be some off-the-wall drug addict idiot. I just changed my name from the standpoint that I can be a better person than I used to be.”
As well as becoming a better person, turns out he is becoming a favourite in bars when other fans of the legendary group find out what his name is and insist on buying him drinks. The man formerly known as George reckons: “I reinvented myself. Since I became Led Zeppelin, my life has improved a thousandfold.”
In the United States, changing your birth name is no big deal – you can get new business cards printed as soon as you have done the paperwork, paid the $200 and run an announcement in the local paper – though understandably there have been some name-change requests that don’t quite make it through the approval process.
Last year in Pennsylvania a judge vetoed an application from Gary Guy Mathews, effectively ending Mr Mathews dream to become legally recognised as Boomer The Dog. They take things seriously in Pennsylvania: in another case a state judge rejected outright a request by Richard John Santorum, Junior Senator of the State of Pennsylvania, to be able to sign his name as God.
Riiiight.
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