Eight Great Celebrity Name Changes (8 images)

Los Angeles Lakers forward Ron Artest has filed to change his name to Metta World Peace.

Artest's lawyer filed a petition with the Los Angeles Superior Court Thursday for the name change, ESPN reported Friday. A hearing has been set for August 26 to consider the petition.

Spokesman John Black said metta is a Buddhist word meaning kindness.

Artest made headlines in 2004 when he attacked a fan during a game. Within the last year he has raised money for various mental health organizations and testified before Congress for mental health legislation.

In the documents filed, Artest cites personal reasons for the name change. UPI/Nell Redmond

Cat Stevens changed his name to Yusuf Islam in 1978 after converting to Islam. He then took a long hiatus from performing to work with numerous humanities projects. Yusuf returned to music in the 1990s.

The Cincinatti Bengals player was fined in 2006 when he wore a label on his jersey that read "Ocho Cinco" instead of his name. In 2008, Johnson legally changed his name to Chad Ochocinco, which means "eight five" in Spanish. Since the first name change, Ochocinco has announced he would change his name once again to "Haichi Go" (Japanese for "eight five"), and just this year he announced his intention to change his name back to "Johnson."

Management companies suggested John Mellencamp release his first albums under the stage name "Cougar," saying his given name would be difficult for marketing. After his first successful albums, he released Uh-Huh under the name "John Cougar Mellencamp." It wasn't until 1991 that his given name, "John Mellencamp" headed an album.