Changing A Name To Royalty

They did not change their names, their language nor their style of dress. These are the three ways in which Jews have always been unique, and why we merited leaving Egypt, and presumably many other salvations we have experienced through history. So we are told.

In the post-Royal Wedding era, after the world has seen the fairy tale style wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton, somebody, an Israeli, was so inspired, so moved by the wedding, that he decided to change his name. he was going to change his name to a combination of names from 10 different monarchs.

According to Ynetnews:

The names he requested be listed on his identification card are: Henry, William, Phillip, Charles, Frederick, Michael, Louis, George, Edward, and Robert.


The clerk who accepted the man's plea was somewhat skeptical, but said he would check if the request was legally plausible, according to the man's account.


A few days later he received a call saying the change was not possible, the explanation being that it would "mislead the public".


The clerk then proposed a compromise, asking the man to choose just three of the 10 names for his ID.


"Thousands of people change their names each year in Israel, some of them at the advice of a rabbi and others at the advice of psychics, in addition to those who want Hebrew names, but we've never seen such an odd request," the Population and Immigration Authority explained in a statement.


"We see many requests that derive from a desire to be special or unique, and only in extreme case in which we feel that the public will be offended do we veto the request."

Perhaps another good thing about the State of Israel is that the government encourages our remaining unique in these ways, not allowing crazy people to change their names like that..

Another thought is to employ the talmudic rule of "Tafasta Meruba Lo Tafasta". When you try for too much, you don't get anything. Had he chosen just a couple of names, perhaps 3 as the clerk suggested, his request might have been immediately granted. yet he chose 10 names, which was too much.