Metta World Peace, Ron Artest-Metta World Peace (born Ronald William Artest, Jr., November 13, 1979) is an American professional basketball player who is currently with the Los Angeles Lakers in the National Basketball Association (NBA). World Peace gained a reputation as one of the league's premier defenders as he won the NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award in 2004. He was a major participant in the Pacers–Pistons brawl and is known for his sometimes eccentric, outspoken behavior.As in Metta World Peace. A brief hearing at Los Angeles Superior Court on Friday morning made it official -- Ron Artest has changed his name to Metta World Peace. According to Artest's publicist, Courtney Barnes, Artest was not present for the ruling, but his attorney, Nahla Rajan, represented her client in front of commissioner Matthew C. St. George. "[Rajan] walked up, the judge said, 'We understand he wants to change his name and he wants to do so for personal reasons,' and it was granted," Barnes said.
"That was it. It was that quick." Artest's initial request to change his name last month was delayed because of a failure to pay an outstanding parking ticket.
"As soon as we found out about it from the previous hearing, once we were able to track down the ticket, it was immediately taken care of," Barnes said. Artest's 8-year-old daughter, Diamond, also plans to change her surname from Artest to World Peace now that her father's name change has become official. "This process needed to go through [Friday] and be legal before there would be any pursuit of that," Barnes said. "Metta is going to be the first name and it means like friendship, love and kindness," Artest told Stephen A. Smith on 710 ESPNLA earlier this month. "World Peace is going to be the last name, so everybody can get ready to buy their World Peace jerseys."
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