'I changed my name to Animal for a dare'

Dec 9 2008 By Emma Heseltine

A Thorpe Park security guard has changed his name from Stephen Edmunds to 'Animal Stephen Leonidas Floyd Mayweather McManus Edmunds'.

The 26 year old, of Fordwater Road, Chertsey, paid £10 to change his name through the Legal Deed Service, and he says he has no regrets as everyone has known him as Animal since he was a boy.

He said: "When I was about 10, I can't remember why but I bit one of my friends and so everyone started calling me 'Filthy Animal' for about a week.

"Then it just became Animal, and that's just kind of stuck ever since. I set up a Facebook group called 'If 5,000 people join this group I'll change my first name to Animal' for a bit of fun.

"But I got bored of waiting, so I lowered it to 2,000. I didn't quite make my target but I went ahead and did it anyway, because all my friends said I should go for it and everyone knows me as Animal anyway."

The Facebook group is still up and running and has reached 1,173 members so far.

Animal chose Leonidas because it means lion-like in Ancient Greek, and boxer Floyd Mayweather is a hero of his so he included his name as a tribute.

He added McManus to recognise the support he has had from close friend Paul McManus who helped him through turbulent times this year.

He said: "I could have chosen another hero's name but I thought Optimus Prime, taken from Transformers, would have been taking it a bit far.

"As for the McManus part, it's just a way for me to say thank you to a good friend, who supported me when I was kicked out of home and through relationship troubles. It was the least I could do."

Animal added that he no longer speaks to his parents so they have just accepted it, and that his sister is used to this kind of thing from him.

He said: "Everyone knows from all my tattoos and piercings that I do rash things so it was really no surprise.

"The Legal Deed Service send forms explaining the name change to my bank and the passport agency and so on, so its quite easy to do.

"Maybe on CVs and things I'll stick to Stephen, though."