For most people, introductions are a fleeting formality, an exchange of names accomplished in seconds.

However, for Laurence Watkins, this simple task becomes an extraordinary feat of endurance.

To recite his full name, all 2,253 words, demands 20 minutes.

This was demonstrated at his first wedding in 1991, when the marriage celebrant pre-recorded the exhaustive list.

As guests wandered the venue, champagne in hand, the recording played until, at last, the moment arrived for Watkins to say, “I do.”

The 60-year-old retired armed security guard, from Auckland, New Zealand, holds the world record for the longest personal name, a title recently awarded by Guinness World Records when reclassifying his original record for longest Christian name, approved in 1992.

Laurence changed his name in 1990, adding 2,250 names to his original birth name Laurence Gregory Watkins. Laurence Watkins

Born Laurence Gregory Watkins in 1965, the young New Zealander was fascinated by “Ripley’s Believe It or Not!,” a TV show that showcased extraordinary facts about remarkable people, places and events around the world.

This interest soon extended to the Guinness book of world records which he read cover to cover, sparking an ambition to feature in its pages.

“I was amazed by these record holders – the world’s fastest man, the tallest, the strongest. People with the world’s longest hair, the longest fingernails and so on,” he told CNN.

But he soon came to the conclusion that, as “a normal person with no particular talent,” his best chance lay with creating the world’s longest name.

“The only other option was the biggest height difference between spouses. Back then, the record holder was a South African man the same height as me, 6-foot-2, whose wife was 3 feet. So, unless I could marry somebody shorter, it wasn’t happening.”

Watkins, now an Australian citizen living in Sydney, spent the next month deciding his new name and paid a typist 400 New Zealand dollars ($230) to record it on paper.

He drew inspiration from Latin and Old English names, famous figures, the “Name Your Baby” books at the Auckland Library, where he worked, and the Māori dictionary.

Despite having no Māori cultural ties, Watkins said he “admires people who speak the language” of the indigenous Polynesian people of New Zealand.

Watkins poses with his covered Guinness World Record certificate. Laurence Watkins

“But the names can be quite long, which was a challenge on the typewriter, at a time before modern computers,” he added.

Other choices were Love, Florence and Basil Brush, after the British TV puppet fox, along with several Samoan names suggested by friends, three Japanese names and two Chinese names including “Xiao” spelled as “Shal.”

He also added Gaylord in honor of the 1984 Olympic gold medalist and US gymnast Mitch Gaylord.

“He was a very handsome guy, so I stole his surname,” Watkins said. “But my favorite name is AZ2000, meaning I have more than 2,000 names from A to Z.”

With his name typed across six pages, marked by the occasional typo that was too difficult to correct with a typewriter, Watkins submitted a legal application to change his name in 1990.

Auckland District Court accepted his request, but he was knocked back at the final hurdle by the Registrar General.

“The registrar said the only way I’m going to get my new name is if I take him to the High Court,” Watkins said.

“The government didn’t have any legal basis to deny my name change at the time, so I won.”

Watkins took inspiration from many sources