An Australian man has set a world record for having the longest name in the world, taking over an hour to say it all.
Laurence Watkins legally changed his name in 1990 to include 2,251 middle names, creating a full name with 2,253 unique words.
Watkins recently read out his entire name for a special Guinness World Records video. The task took more than 60 minutes to complete. At his wedding, even the officiant took around 20 minutes just to read it aloud.
His name starts with dozens of names beginning with the letter “A” and continues through the alphabet. One of his favourite parts is “AZ2000,” showing that his name includes names from A to Z and adds up to over 2,000.
Watkins said he was always interested in strange and fun world records. As a boy, he read the Guinness World Records book from cover to cover, looking for something he could beat. He realised the longest name was a record he could try for.
Changing his name wasn’t easy. It required lots of paperwork and several visits to court. Soon after, new laws were made to stop others from attempting to break his record.
