Brit Geeks Set "Longest Name" Record

The former Daniel Knox-Hewson and Kelvin Borbidge

You think you’re a geek? Okay, but are you willing to put your money where your mouth is? A pair of British geeks did, besting the world record for the longest name — and they did it by renaming themselves after famous superheroes and supervillains.

Daniel Knox-Hewson has legally renamed himself “Emperor Spiderman Gandalf Wolverine Skywalker Optimus Prime Goku Sonic Xavier Ryu Cloud Superman HeMan Batman Thrash.” His friend Kelvin Borbidge has taken the villian names “Baron Venom Balrog Sabretooth Vader Megatron Vegeta Robotnik Magneto Bison Sephiroth Lex Luthor Skeletor Joker Grind.” Knowledgable geeks will notice that the order of duo’s multiple names correspond to pairs of archenemies. Spiderman/Venom, for example, or Batman/Joker.

It cost the two about $23 each to change their names with Britain’s Legal Deed Poll Service just last week. Both chose names with 16 words each, enabling them to easly beat the previous record of 13. The prior record holder was another British geek who legally changed his name to “Captain Fantastic Faster Than Superman Spiderman Batman Wolverine Hulk and the Flash Combined.”

Borbridge, in one of the most “duh” statements of all time, told the Coventry Telegraph, “Our families were shocked and thought that we were crazy.”

Would-be record breakers take note: a 17-word name is all it will take to blow these two out of the water.