BANGOR, Maine — Holy name change!
A Bangor man has petitioned the Penobscot County Probate Court to legally change his name to Batman. Christopher Michael Richardson, 44, is not giving up all his names. He just wants to drop his first name for that of the caped crusader, his longtime nickname.
While it is unusual for a person to ask a county probate court, which handles name changes, adoptions and estates, to approve a change from a fairly common first name to that of a comic book character, it does not violate the statute governing name changes.
Richardson, who has cerebral palsy and uses a wheelchair, said Thursday that Batman has been his nickname since he was 18 and making it his legal first name seemed perfectly natural. He first began using the name as a way to connect with children with disabilities similar to his own. He even has a Batman costume he sometimes wears, he said.
“I can talk to kids in regular clothes but it’s better to have a gig,” he said in his modest two-room apartment decorated with Batman memorabilia. “It’s easier for kids to connect with Batman.”
“Everybody knows me as Batman, so I just decided to make it legal.”
He first attended Pine Tree Camp in Rome, a summer camp for children and adults with physical and developmental disabilities, when he was 5. Richardson said he has continued to attend camp as an adult and, as Batman, has taught drama to young campers.
Richardson is not alone in seeking an unusual name change. A judge in York, Nebraska, in 2012 allowed a 23-year-old local businessman to change his name from Tyler Joseph Gold to Tyrannosaurus Rex Joseph Gold, according to a Nebraska newspaper.
In Maine, a person may file a petition for a name change in the Probate Court in the county in which he or she lives. A parent or legal guardians may petition to change the name of a child.
In 2015, 90 name change petitions were granted in Penobscot County, according to the county probate court clerk’s office. Statewide statistics are not gathered.
The petition asks for the legal name and address of the person, date of birth and the name change being sought. It also asks for the reasons the name change is being sought. The filing fee is $40, which includes the cost of publishing legal notices.
State law requires that a notice be published twice in a local newspaper stating the person’s current name and the name change the person is seeking so anyone who wishes to may object. A judge must consider any objections before granting the name change.
Under Maine law, a person may not seek a name change to avoid criminal prosecution or creditors. The law does not prevent people from taking on the name of a comic book character.
“The judge may not change the name of the person if the judge has reason to believe that the person is seeking the name change for purposes of defrauding another person or entity or for purposes otherwise contrary to the public interest,” the law says.
A judge also may require the person seeking a name change to undergo a criminal records check, a motor vehicle record check and/or credit check at the person’s own expense.
The reason most people change their name is because they dislike it, according to LegalZoom.com, a website that provides legal forms and information. Other reasons include: name changes following a divorce, a husband taking his wife’s name upon marriage, changing a child’s surname to the mother or father’s, and transgender name changes.
Efforts to reach the legal department at DC Entertainment, which owns the Batman trademark, to see if it would oppose Richardson’s request were unsuccessful Thursday and Friday.
Richardson will know by Feb. 23 whether he may begin signing his name “Batman Michael Richardson.”