'I have world's longest name – it has 2,253 words and takes an hour to write'

Laurence Watkins has the longest name in the world (Image: Jam Press/Laurence Watkins)

A person’s name is a crucial part of their identity, it is part of how they identify themselves to another person, and is often the first thing they mention in conversation.

People will rarely give their full name in an informal chat, but for more formal occasions such as weddings or visa applications, they have to.

If someone has a couple of middle names, this can take a little longer than usual, an extra second or so, but one man has 2,251 middle names, making his full name the longest in the world.

New Zealander Laurence Watkins holds the Guinness World Record for the longest name. He made the legal change in 1990 when he added all his middle names to his original name, giving him a 2,253-words-long full name.

Laurence decided to create his epic name after reportedly reading the Guinness Book of World Records. Thereafter, the then delivery driver for a local library set about creating the ultimate name.

Laurence Watkins (Image: Jam Press/Laurence Watkins)

Laurence’s name is so long that it has caused a problem during formal administrative procedures. This includes his wedding, where it took the celebrant 20 minutes to read out his name in its entirety.

The Mirror reports that it has also caused other issues. Laurence said: "Having such a long name can sometimes be a hindrance as it's not recognised.

"My passport has a note with 'See pages for list of forenames', with six pages attached. And the only time I've heard my full name read aloud was at my wedding, and it took the marriage celebrant 20 minutes.”

On which of his many names are his favourite, Laurence said: “Many of them are hard for me to pronounce properly, but my two favourites are Kalwhakamatautau, and AZ2000 – which means I have names from A-Z and I have [more than] 2,000 names. Each name holds great significance to me.”

Despite holding a Guinness World Record, Laurence added that he is often disappointed by the reaction he gets from people.

He added: “The reaction I get when I tell people I have over 2,000 names is a bit underwhelming as I find they don't share my enthusiasm. I shouldn't expect people to have the same enthusiasm as me, as it doesn't concern them, but it's still a bit of a let-down.”

Laurence isn’t the only entity with a name that some find difficult to manage, with one famous village in the UK becoming known around the world for having one of the longest names for a place in the world, and the longest in Europe.

The Anglesey village of Llanfair­pwllgwyngyll­gogery­chwyrn­drobwll­llan­tysilio­gogo­goch’s name literally translates as ‘St. Mary's Church in the hollow of white hazel near a rapid whirlpool and the Church of St. Tysilio near the red cave’.

However, to make life easier, many road signs simply read ‘Llanfair PG’.