Man Changes Middle Name To "Keikoburger" - After Keiko The Whale

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A young man working in a Trondheim butcher shop has won approval for a new middle name: "Keikoburger." It's not expected to win much praise from fans of the late whale named Keiko, who now lies buried along a Norwegian beach.

Espen Keikoburger Scheide didn't have a middle name before, and started using "Keikoburger" as a nickname on the Internet. He recently became aware that Norwegian regulations around name changes were eased as of last year.

"I didn't think I could have such a name (like "Keikoburger,") he told newspaper VG. But he sent in an application anyway and won approval to start using the new name as of October 7.

"It's great," he said. "Now I can get a passport and a driver's license with an exlusive name," he said. He claimed that he never had any strong feelings for Keiko the whale, who created a sensation when he swam into a Norwegian fjord in the late summer of 2002. He died last December.

http://www.aftenposten.no/english/local/article893841.ece