Topic: Ice Cube

We don’t get it — it’s not like Ron Artest is a celebrity kid who was saddled with an awful name like Jermajesty. And yet, the L.A. Lakers player has just filed a name change request. Henceforth he would like to be known as — wait for it — Metta World Peace. (It’s not even an Internet-culture joke: “Metta” means goodwill, which makes his new moniker rather redundant if you ask us.)

Often when you hear about celebrities and name changes, it’s people like Allen Stewart Konigsburg trading in his mouthful of a name for Woody Allen, or Norma Jean Parker shedding her Midwestern past to embody Marilyn Monroe. That said, Artest is not the first person to take the leap for an inexplicably weird new name. While he hasn’t given any reasons for the decision, we’ve looked at other notable name changes for possible leads. More »