Why would anyone willingly change their name to something really, really, really, really long? One hundred and sixty one words to be exact. No, this wasn’t the work of some terrible bet between friends, it’s all for charity. She was born Dawn Marie McManus but today she goes by, well, you’re going to have to see it to believe it.
Dawn Marie McManus is now…
Red Wacky League Antlez Broke the Stereo Neon Tide Bring Back Honesty Coalition Feedback Hand of Aces Keep Going Captain Let’s Pretend Lost State of Dance Paper Taxis Lunar Road Up Down Strange All and I Neon Sheep Eve Hornby Faye Bradley AJ Wilde Michael Rice Dion Watts Matthew Appleyard John Ashurst Lauren Swales Zoe Angus Jaspreet Singh Emma Matthews Nicola Brown Leanne Pickering Victoria Davies Rachel Burnside Gil Parker Freya Watson Alisha Watts James Pearson Jacob Sotheran Darley Beth Lowery Jasmine Hewitt Chloe Gibson Molly Farquhar Lewis Murphy Abbie Coulson Nick Davies Harvey Parker Kyran Williamson Michael Anderson Bethany Murray Sophie Hamilton Amy Wilkins Emma Simpson Liam Wales Jacob Bartram Alex Hooks Rebecca Miller Caitlin Miller Sean McCloskey Dominic Parker Abbey Sharpe Elena Larkin Rebecca Simpson Nick Dixon Abbie Farrelly Liam Grieves Casey Smith Liam Downing Ben Wignall Elizabeth Hann Danielle Walker Lauren Glen James Johnson Ben Ervine Kate Burton James Hudson Daniel Mayes Matthew Kitching Josh Bennett Evolution Dreams.
Please take a moment to watch this:
Moving on.
“I can’t even remember the order of the names,” McManus, who now goes by the name Red, told the Hartlepool Mail. But it was all to encourage people to donate to her charity.
She started on her path to the world’s longest name when she and her husband, Ian McManus, started a charity called Red Dreams in honor of their deceased son. He died suddenly at age sixteen of a brain hemorrhage. According to the Red Dreams website:
Kyle loved all of the creative arts, from singing, songwriting, acting to art and writing and as a tribute to him, and following a number of concerts performed by the Val Armstrong School of Performing Arts and a number of other amazing donations, we decided to create a living legacy in the form of the Red Dreams.
Red Dreams has a very basic ethos of ’Confidence Through Creativity’; however this is underpinned by a number of values, including dedication, respect, focus, determination and support. Red Dreams not only looks to support young people in their creative endeavours, but also offers to mentor them individually, allowing them to grow in self esteem, self confidence and self belief; always instilling humility within an individual, and alway going back to our core values.
“We have processed a number of crazy name changes to date, but this is the longest one on record,” said Tina Clough, spokesperson for The Legal Deed Poll Service, who took care of the paperwork.
“Dreams said she did not know how the new name would fit on her passport or bank card but hoped she would be allowed to use initials or an abbreviated version,” wrote the BBC.
Also mentioned in the BBC piece are three men in the UK who changed their names to all superhero characters just because.
Daniel Knox-Hewson, 23, became Emperor Spiderman Gandalf Wolverine Skywalker Optimus Prime Goku Sonic Xavier Ryu Cloud Superman Heman Batman Thrash.
Kelvin Borbidge, 22, chose Baron Venom Balrog Sabretooth Vader Megatron Vegeta Robotnik Magneto Bison Sephiroth Lex Luthor Skeletor Joker Grind.
In November 2008, a teenager from Glastonbury, George Garratt, became Captain Fantastic Faster Than Superman Spiderman Batman Wolverine The Hulk And The Flash Combined.
Red Dreams now helps youths ages 11-19. You can find out more about the organization here.
Would you ever consider changing your name legally to something this long? Even for charity? I wonder if Facebook will give her trouble…
(via Digital Spy)
