The Australian man with the world’s longest name read out his entire moniker — featuring more than 2,000 middle names — and it took him more than an hour to accomplish.
Laurence Watkins had his name legally changed in March 1990 to include 2,251 middle names, earning the Guinness World Record for the longest personal name in the process, with 2,253 unique words.
Watkins said it took the officiant at his wedding about 20 minutes to read his full name, but he attempted the feat himself for a Guinness World Records video and it took more than an hour.
His name begins Laurence Alon Aloys Aloysius Alphege Alun Alured Alwyn Alysander Ambie Ambrose Ambrosius Amias Amiot Amyas Anders Andre Andrea Andreas Andrew Andy Aneirin Anguish Anleifr — and those aren’t even all of the names beginning with “A.”
“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.”
He said the process involved a lot of paperwork and several trips to court. His successful name change was followed by the passing of new laws that prevented others from trying to take his record.
“My favorite name is AZ2000 meaning I have names from A-Z and I have 2000 names,” he said.
