My name is Janez Janša

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As the symbol was (and still is) unpronounceable, he was often referred to as ‘The Artist Formerly Known as Prince’.

In 1993, Prince was fed up with his label, Warner Bros, with whom he had signed a $100 million deal less than a year before. They wanted him to release fewer CDs so he wouldn’t flood the market. The artist responded by accusing Warner of stifling his creativity but he couldn’t get out of his contract so he decided to change his name to an unpronounceable combination of the symbols for male (♂) and female (♀). In order for the media to use the symbol, his record label had to mail out thousands of floppy disks with a custom font.

Officially, the singer explained his new designation in a press statement by saying: ”It is an unpronounceable symbol whose meaning has not been identified. It’s all about thinking in new ways, tuning in 2 a new free-quency.”

What about introductions?

As he told an interviewer in 1995, ”I get by. I don’t need a name as such, really.”

Journalists started to call him “the artist formerly known as Prince,” but in 2000 he went back to Prince when his Warner contract expired. Between 1993–2000 sales of his new music slowed down significantly, but he still managed to get his point across.

A brand is a brand!

Many people decide to change their name because they don’t like their original name or find it embarrassing if mispronounced or misspelled. People with names that are identifiably “ethnic” sometimes have problems with that and want to change their name. Some individuals instead would like to reclaim their ethnic heritage by returning to a surname that may have been lost over the years or by the adoption of a new one. Transgender people often request name changes to reflect gender and same-sex partners may choose to share a common surname to facilitate financial or legal transactions. A woman may change her name for marriage and can decide to reclaim her maiden name upon separation or divorce, or take on an entirely new name. Numerology can be another reason for a name change. Whether it is because of a recent religious conversion or simply to honor a person’s religious deity, name changes for religious reasons are quite common:

In 2008, Steve Kreuscher asked a judge in Illinois to legally change his name to In God We Trust: First name, In God. Last name, We Trust. The reason is that God has been good to him, and he wants the world to know.

http://news.exchristian.net/2008/06/man-officially-changes-name-to-in-god.html

Although some may consider it extreme to change your name to support a cause, name changes for political reasons are not unheard of. In the past 10 years, Christopher Garnett became KentuckyFriedCruelty.com, Brandi Valladolid became RinglingBeatsAnimals.com, and Marvin Richardson legally changed his full name to Pro-Life.

Other interesting name changes from recent memory are:

Santa Claus: Robert Rion of Mundelein, 1997
GoVeg.com: Karin Robertson of Virginia, 2003
Megatron: Michael Burrows of Washington, 2007
Optimus Prime: Scott Nall of Ohio, 2001
Low Tax: Byron Looper of Tennessee, 1998
Jesus Christ: Jose Espinal of New York, 2005

In 1967, before the boxing fight, Terrell refused to call Ali by his name. Instead he insisted on calling him Cassius Clay. Ali told him and the press that he was going to punish him mercilessly and make him say his real name.

During the fight Ali called out “What’s my name?” to Terrell.

In and interview with Howard Cosell on ABC not long after the match Muhammad Ali apologized for talking to Terrell throughout the fight, and saying “what’s my name” then hitting him. However he said he did it so Terrell and other people would respect his religious beliefs. Terrell ended up saying “Muhammad Ali”…