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As a child, Vincent Edward Jackson was described by his family as a "wild boar," which later was shortened to "Bo."

Earl Smith III had been going by J.R. (as in junior) until announcing on Nov. 10 2009 that he returning to Earl as part of an effort to fix his troubled image.

Eldrick Tont Woods, got his nickname from a Vietnamese soldier friend of his father's.

In 1971, several years after converting to Islam, Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor, Jr became Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

Rod Smith of the XFL's Las Vegas Outlaws took advantage of league rules permitting players' jerseys to be stitched with whatever words they wanted.

Born James George Janos, former WWE star Jesse "The Body" Ventura, kept his stage name when he later became Govenor of Minnesota.

Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr. became Muhammad Ali after joining the Nation of Islam in 1964.

Edison Arantes do Nascimento was named after Thomas Edison, but his childhood nickname "Pele" proved to have more staying power.

Chad Javon Johnson legally changed his surname from Johnson to Ochocinco prior to the 2008 regular season to reflect his Bengals uniform number.

It's Frank Urban Zoeller Jr. on his driver's license, but it's Fuzzy to you.

Joey Belle was a rising star in the Cleveland Indians organization in the early '90s, before undergoing counselling for anger and alcohol issues and changing his name to Albert.

In 1982 middleweight boxer Marvin Hagler was sick of feeling unappreciated by the media. His solution? Legally changing the first word of his name to "Marvelous."

John Paul Bonser had no idea why people had been calling him "Boof" since childhood, nevertheless he went ahead and made it official in 2001 when he legally adopted the name.