NEW ZEALAND: A 60-year-old security guard from Auckland, New Zealand, was officially recognized by Guinness World Records as having the longest personal name in the world.
Laurence Watkins has a six-page birth certificate containing 2,253 names. Guinness recently redefined his previous record from “longest Christian name” to “longest personal name,” confirming the number of words.
Watkins’ interest in records started at an early age after seeing Ripley’s Believe It or Not! and reading the Guinness Book of World Records. He chose to leave his mark by coming up with the longest possible name, thinking that it was something “a normal person” could do without any exceptional talents.
In 1990, after months of gathering names from Latin, Māori, Samoan, and other languages — plus pop culture icons and personal favorites such as Gaylord (in honor of Olympic gymnast Mitch Gaylord) and AZ2000 (representing his 2,000-plus names) — Watkins petitioned his name change to the Auckland District Court.
Even though the Registrar General at first turned it down, the High Court eventually overruled, and in 1992 Guinness acknowledged his feat with a certificate for the world’s longest Christian name at 2,310 words. A recent review had set that figure at 2,253, reclassifying it as the longest personal name.
Watkins’s first name takes up six pages on his birth certificate and took additional pages in his original passport. Out of convenience, he now refers to himself as Laurence Alon Aloy Watkins in everyday life and signs “Watkins V.”
In his lifetime, Watkins even stood for Auckland Mayor using one of his longer names that contained titles such as Lord, Duke, and Saint. After his case, New Zealand tightened its laws surrounding names, now restricting names to 70 characters and prohibiting the use of titles, symbols, or derogatory words.
Although the eccentricity, Watkins claims to have no regrets. “It’s something special — and I still have the record,” he said.
If you feel fortunate, you may attempt to spell his name within less than 20 minutes:
