I am not making this up and I am not shocked in the least bit, we are talking about Ron Artest.
If he didn’t do things like I would be surprised. TMZ has the details.
Ron is going the way of Cassius Clay, Lew Alcindor and Chad Johnson. Ron’s filed a petition in L.A. County Superior Court to change his name to — Metta World Peace.
FYI, metta means loving, kindness, happiness and all that jazz.
We’re told Ron wants to put the his new last name — Peace — on the back of his L.A. Lakers’ jersey.
Doesn’t compare to World B. Free which I think is the greatest basketball name of all time, but it isn’t bad. I expected something a little more original from Artest like Table Chair Mauler or something like that.
What we do know that a name change can be marketable even if the name sounds ridiculous and just for that I hope he sticks with Metta WorldPeace.
Here are some other interesting name changes that were all legally done:
Eldrick Woods to Tiger Woods
Cassius Clay to Muhammad Ali
Larry Jones to Chipper Jones
Vincent Edward Jackson to Bo Jackson
Joey Belle to Albert Belle
Edson Arantes do Nascimento to Pele
Bobby Moore to Ahmad Rashad
Edward Charles Ford to Whitey Ford
Lloyd Bernard Free to World B. Free
Chad Johnson to Chad OchoCinco
James Bell to Cool Papa Bell
George Herman Ruth to Babe Ruth
Fredrick Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor, Jr to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Jim Hellwig AKA “The Ultimate Warrior” to Jim Warrior