LITTLE ROCK — Steve Kreuscher said he is tired of attacks on religion in America.
So recently he decided to take a stand. This month, the 57-yearold Zion, Ill., man will go to court to legally change his name to "In God We Trust."
"The phrase 'In God We Trust' is like an endangered species, like the bald eagle," said Kreuscher, a school bus driver and artist. "By changing my name to In God We Trust, it is like I am taking one last bald eagle, for myself and for my family, and securing it as a permanent part of our heritage."
Kreuscher has joined a growing list of people who are changing their names, some of them to unusual phrases to make a statement. Celebrities have long changed their names, often to enhance or change their image.
In 1993, performer Prince changed his name to a symbol and years later back again. Earlier this year, 15-year-old singer Miley Ray Cyrus officially dropped her birth name, Destiny Hope.
Over the past decade, more and more ordinary people have taken that step.
Robert Rion of Mundelein, Ill., changed his name to Santa Claus in 1997 after decades of playing the role. Claus, who died in 2003, also looked the part, weighing 300 pounds and growing a long white beard.
Chris Garnett, a youth outreach worker for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, changed his name to Kentucky Fried Cruelty.com in 2005 to protest what he alleged was mistreatment of chickens by the fast-food chain. A Missouri man, Andrew Wilson, changed his name to They. Terri Iligan of Tennessee auctioned her name on eBay. A casino paid her $15,199 to changeit to GoldenPalace.com.
Bill Holland, a San Francisco painting contractor who wanted to be the last name in the phone book, went with Zachary Zzzzzzzzzra.
Brian Liu, founder of Legalzoom.com, a popular online legal site, said his company has seen a 32 percent increase in name changes this year compared with 2007. Women changing their names outnumber men, 60 percent to 40 percent, he said, and the largest age group is 21 to 35.
A recent trend, he said, has been people opting for simpler names.
"It has a to do with a lot of Eastern Europeans and Slavic names that are sometimes very long and difficult to pronounce," said Liu, whose firm prepares the paperwork for the petitioner tofile in court.
"But the main reason is 'My proposed name fits me better.' People don't really need a good reason. It is one of the great things about America. We allow people to be who they want to be. If they want to start life over with a new name, they can do that."
In most states, the filing fee runs from $150 to $350 to petition a court to approve a name change. The petition likely will be denied if fraud is suspected or if a person is trying to adopt the name of a famous person or a name that is considered offensive.
Fourteen years ago at the age of 17, Peter Eastman, who grew up in Carpinteria, Calif., decided to change his name to Trout Fishing in America. He was influenced by the Richard Brautigan novel of the same name. But Trout had a more personal reason for changing his name.
For years, he said, he and hisfamily had worked on restoring an old boat, which he wanted to name Trout Fishing in America. After years of work, they discovered dry rot in the wooden keel, so they abandoned the project. But he refused to abandon the name.
"I was being flippant as a teenager and decided it would be interesting to graduate as Trout Fishing in America in memory of the boat," said Trout, now 31. "The school, of course, did not like it. But my parents were OK with it. So I used money my father gave me as a graduation present to pay the $182 court fees."
Trout America, the shortenedversion he now uses, said he has no regrets. He graduated from college and recently returned from Japan, where he spent three years teaching English.
Novelist Anne Bernays, co-author of the book The Language of Names: What We Call Ourselves and Why It Matters, said names often become a part of one's selfimage.
"The personality, the sense of identity and the name are so interlinked that it's spooky," Bernays said. "Unless you choose your own name, it does not tell me who you are, it tells me a great deal about who your parents are."
