What’s In A Name Change? (The Naked City)

What’s In A Name Change? is the latest column (February 24, 2025) from Coffin Ed‘s The Naked City column – featured exclusively on City Hub.

Shakespeare once said  “a rose by any other name would smell as sweet”, but most sane people agree that Trump changing the ‘Gulf Of Mexico’ to the ‘Gulf Of America’ stinks.

Mind you it has generated a rash of amusing memes with Borat (aka Ali G) quickly declaring it the ‘Gulf Of Kazakhstan’. Names, be they personal, geographical or those of celebrity entertainers are changed for a variety of reasons – some overtly political as with Trump’s recent atlas tantrum, others purely for showbiz pizzazz. 

During the early 1900s, Australians had a love affair with all things Japanese, from art and design to culture and even food. Japanese naval training ships were often welcomed into Sydney Harbour and in 1906 Katoomba Municipal Council extended a formal invitation to their officers and crew to visit the Blue Mountains.

New streets in Leura and Hazelbrook were named in their honour with a selection of Japanese names. However, in 1941 following the attack on Pearl Harbor there were some very swift changes. Residents of Tokio Rd in Leura, for example, woke up one morning to find they were now living in Roosevelt St. 

Rock bands and movie stars are notorious for switching names, for both artistic, socially acceptable and commercial reasons. For example The Beatles were originally known as ‘The Quarry Men’, which would never have worked in the long run, whilst Blink-182 started as the bizarrely named ‘Duct Tape’. The ‘Sex Maggots’ were obviously out to win a wider teenage audience when they became The Goo Goo Dolls and Coldplay were even duller when they were known as ‘Starfish’. 

Marilyn Monroe was born Norma Jeane Mortenson and legally changed her name in 1956 although she had been using the stage name of Marilyn since 1946. Following her tragic death in 1962, her original name took on a new significance in songs such as Elton John’s ‘Candle in The Wind’.

We have come to expect many Hollywood celebrities, with those catchy on screen names, to have been born with a much less glamorous moniker. No surprise then when we learn Tom Cruise was christened Thomas Cruise Mapother IV or Vin Diesel the rather dreary Mark Sinclair Vincent.  

Let’s say for a variety of reasons you suddenly decide to change your own name. Maybe you are seeking anonymity or distancing yourself from a failed relationship – or simply don’t feel comfortable with the identity you were born with. As long as you are not an inmate, a person on remand, a parolee or subject to a supervision order, the process is relatively straightforward. You can only change your name once in a 12-month period and a maximum of three times in a year. 

If you were born in NSW you can actually apply online with the priority service taking around four weeks at a cost of $283. I’m told it’s not quite that easy, and not surprisingly, there are various bureaucratic hurdles to jump along the way.

There are also laws which prevent you from switching to a name that is considered offensive or socially disruptive. For example,  Neo-Nazis will be disappointed to learn that they can’t adopt the name of the Fuhrer, or any other notorious members of the Third Reich. 

There is a long list of banned names when it comes to christening children such as Lucifer and Satan, and I would imagine adults wanting to adopt such a persona might face a similar knock-back. Maybe it’s easier to just opt for a pseudonym or a nickname, not legally enshrined but very much accepted as your personal identity. 

This month, a maverick independent politician in Western Australia, formerly known as Benjamin Dawkins, legally changed his name to ‘Austin Trump’ (aka ‘Aussie Trump’). With Clive Palmer recently launching his ‘Trumpet Of Patriots’ party and planning to run candidates in both the House Of Reps and Senate, will we see a rash of surname changes to Trump?

It’s enough to MAKE AUSTRALIA GROAN AGAIN!