Brits changing names in record numbers

A record number of Britons changed their name by deed poll this year, some to bizarre ones including Her Majesty The Queen, Willy Wonka and Miss Jelly St Tots.

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A record number of Britons changed their name by deed poll this year - some to bizarre ones including Her Majesty The Queen, Willy Wonka and Miss Jelly St Tots.

More than 90,000 people swapped their name in 2010, figures from the Legal Deed Poll Service reveal.

Among them was David Lennox, 29, from Aberdeen, who became Her Majesty The Queen after launching an online poll to find a new name to raise funds for the Association for International Cancer Research.

Jane Nash from Manchester, who is mad about Jelly Tots - chewy fruit-flavoured sweets - is now Miss Jelly St Tots after a friend bought her the new name for her 40th birthday.

John Denton, 33, from Lowestoft in Suffolk has become Willy Wonka to collect money for Cancer Research after his mother died.

Papy Elungu, 33, from Chingford, north-east London, changed his name to Michael Jackson after people began saying he resembled the King of Pop.

A spokeswoman for the Legal Deed Poll Service said: "While many sought to make the alteration due to divorce, boredom or to bring a bit of cheer to their lives, others said that they just fancied a change."



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Source: AFP

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Brits changing names in record numbers | SBS News