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Introducing oneself to another person is usually a brisk affair, accomplished in a few seconds.
However, if you meet Laurence Watkins, you’d better strap in. He recently read out his entire moniker… and it took him more than an hour to get through it.
Born Laurence Gregory Watkins, the 60-year-old New Zealander – now an Australian citizen living in Sydney – had his name legally changed in March 1990 to include 2,251 middle names. This earned him the Guinness World Record for the longest personal name, with 2,253 unique words.
“I was always fascinated by the quirky unusual records that some people went for and I really wanted to be part of that scene,” he told Guinness World Records. “I read the Guinness World Records book from cover to cover to see if there was a record I could beat and the only one I had a chance at beating was adding more names than the current holder.”
Not that the record was an easy feat, especially since his application was accepted by Auckland District Court but rejected by the Register General.
Laurence had to take his case to the High Court in New Zealand, who determined he should be allowed to change his name as he wanted to.
However, not long after their decision, they changed two laws that would prevent others from doing something similar in future.
When reading out his full name, he began with: Laurence Alon Aloys Aloysius Alphege Alun Alured Alwyn Alysander Ambie Ambrose Ambrosius Amias Amiot Amyas Anders Andre Andrea Andreas Andrew Andy Aneirin Anguish Anleifr…
We’ll spare you the rest. If you want to know his full name, get comfortable and click on the video below.
“My favourite name is AZ2000 meaning I have names from A-Z and I have 2000 names,” said Watkins.
We’re fans of the “Myron Naaman Nahum Napoleon Narcissus Nehemiah Nennog Neot Nestor” stretch, and the “Wulfric Wulfstan Wyatt Wybert Wyndham Wynford Wystan Xenophon” is no slouch either.
Only one question remains: How chunky is this man’s passport?