Hamilton changing his name to include mother’s surname, Larbalestier

2022 F1 season

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Lewis Hamilton says he intends to change his name to incorporate his mother’s surname, Larbalestier.

Speaking to an audience at Dubai’s Expo 2020 event, Hamilton confirmed he is working on changing his surname to acknowledge his biological mother, Carmen Larbalestier. She separated from his father Anthony Hamilton when the future world champion was two years old.

Hamilton revealed the planned change when discussing his eagerness to win an eighth world championship which narrowly eluded him at the end of last year.

“It would mean the world to my family,” said Hamilton. “It would mean a lot to me knowing that, for example, I am really proud of my family’s name, Hamilton.

“I’m actually, none of you might know that my mum’s name is Larbalestier and I am just about to put that in my name.

“Because I don’t fully understand the idea that when people get married the woman loses their name. And my mum, I really want her name to continue on [along] with the Hamilton name.”

Asked when he intends to make the change Hamilton said: “Hopefully soon, I don’t know if it will be this weekend but we are working on it.”

Winning an eighth world championship, which would break the record set by Michael Schumacher, “would be mind-blowing”, said Hamilton.

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“I know it would mean so much to all of us that go through all these different emotions though the year, those of you that are on the road with me, whether you are at home or at the race track.”

Hamilton also talked about his relationship with his father, who he described as being a “hard parent” when he was younger.

“At my first grand prix win in 2007, I remember looking down and watching my dad smiling up at me and that was real, real deep for me because he was a very, very hard parent.

“Not particularly the most loving because he felt like he had to be this solid rock, always. But in that moment, I knew that I made him proud.”

He said he had been through a “difficult period of time” following his controversial championship defeat in Abu Dhabi, following which he made no public comments for over two months.

“I had to unplug,” he said. “Just so you know if any of you want to do it, just unplugging from social media is a really, really good thing. I missed everyone that follows and supports, but I really needed the time to really recentre, refocus.

“I was with my family, trying to be the best uncle I can be and just create memories in the family rebuilding and I’ve come back to fight.”

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Keith Collantine
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105 comments on “Hamilton changing his name to include mother’s surname, Larbalestier”

  1. Love him or hate him, this is nice of him

    1. As if life is not complicated enough … “Your papersss are not in order … “

  2. I don’t know how anybody could possibly be against this, but Lewis Hamilton said it, so I’ll just wait for half an hour and then check this page again. My first guess would be that he doesn’t really care and he’s just ‘virtue signalling’. Or maybe they’ll go straight to the Whataboutism.

    1. José Lopes da Silva
      14th March 2022, 14:49

      The funnier part would be if someone brings a comparation with Senna and/or Piquet.

      1. RandomMallard
        14th March 2022, 16:35

        I believe that’s Nelson Piquet Souto Maior and Ayrton Senna da Silva to you ;-)

    2. Well all I’ll say is this, it’s yet another distraction from what actually matters in the world, another “me too” cause that doesn’t actually do squat at the end of the day, doesn’t help anybody that actually needs it, another “Woke” cause.

      1. It’s not really a distraction but a thoughtful gesture towards his mother. Taking both paternal and maternal surnames is common in Spain and some Spanish American countries.

        1. @bennyh1 I assume it was a joke. No rational human being would ever actually think that.

      2. I’m sure if he thought it through he would not have done it knowing how the easily distracted such as yourself would react.

      3. Sergey Martyn
        14th March 2022, 17:33

        El ingenioso hidalgo don Hamilton Larbalestier de la Mercedesa BLMo!

      4. How bout you don’t say it.

      5. No, it really isn’t. It’s something nice Hamilton decided to do for his mother.

        It doesn’t involve you. Or me.

    3. Wasn’t here, but the post you’re looking for popped up on another site, complete with the phrase “virtue signaling”– a phrase George Orwell would be proud of.

      The post was promptly deleted.

  3. This article doesn’t make it clear if he is going to use Larbalestier as his surname of Larbalestier-Hamilton / Hamilton-Larbalestier. I’m not sure of the entry name rules, but the beauracracy is weird enough in F1, that he may need to register the new name on his official entrant, before the first race.

    Having a hard, driven parent is likely the reason for his determination and focus, although that can create issues and resentment, without parents that push you rarely get kids that go beyond limited expectations.

    1. The article has just quoted him but without the context. The interviewer asked if it would be before the weekend and Hamilton laughed and jokingly said “I don’t think it’ll be by the weekend”. What came across was that this is just something he is doing personally, without any time constraints or an aim to have it completed by the start of the season.

      He didn’t give any details on how he would actually use the name.

    2. RocketTankski
      14th March 2022, 15:27

      He can always just shorten it to LH

      1. Clever

      2. LH44/8.

        That would cause a riot.

    3. @jasonj the bureaucracy on this one isn’t as tangled as you would think. Mercedes is actually the entrant, not Hamilton. His first and only step would be to get the name changed on his FIA super-licence, for which he would just have to provide the document legally changing his name.

    4. An analysis of death registrations in 1888 showed that people registered with only two names lived on average more than twice as long as people registered with more than two names. Adding more names shortens your life.

    5. G (@unklegsif)
      15th March 2022, 9:47

      Andrew Benson from the BBC confirmed the following….

      For those who have misinterpreted this, to be clear, Hamilton is incorporating his mother’s surname as a middle name and will not be using it as a surname, nor changing his name to a double-barrelled surname

  4. I agree, it’s very weird in some cultures the mother’s name isn’t passed down to their children. I guess you can always hyphenate the two names but that’s not the norm…

    For instance Checo has two surnames: Pérez Mendoza, and in Mexico both are always required for legal documents and so on.

    1. And when Sergio Perez Mendoza and his wife Lucia Sanchez Hernandez have a child, he or she will be named Juan/Juanita Perez Mendoza Sanchez Hernandez. And he/she marries another 4 surname person and their child has 8 surnames and so on…

      1. Children will be Perez Sanchez, customarily they lose maternal surnames from both sides so Mendoza and Hernandez are lost. Law changed and now surnames can be in the order preferred by the parents and keep the maternal surname in next generations. Brazilians have the order inverted, maternal first, paternal last, eg Edson Arantes do Nascimiento, his father was João Ramos do Nascimento and mother Celeste Arantes. So Lewis adding maternal surname isn’t really a shocking.

      2. If it were up to me I’d keep the father’s father and the mother’s mother name. A boy carries his Y-chromosome and her mitochondrial DNA.

        For girls, it’s slightly more complicated, but the mitochondrial DNA holds true. The X-chromosomes are harder to track because you have two, those could come from either of the 4 grandparents, 1 per side.

        (All assuming no mutations or cross-overs.)

        1. When my daughter was training to be a doctor she was warned that over 25% of children were not fathered by the person they thought (whether the mother knew it or not!). This affects the diagnosis of inherited diseases. It has also caught out the police when they use familial DNA.

          1. that makes no sense at all. the father is still the father, he still needed to supply the semen. geez. the mother and father would not care one bit if their child looked different to both of them. but i dont know how the conversation went to this… Good on Hamilton for changing his name. I hope Elona Musk sticks with that name, it suits him.

    2. Latin America uses both last names on children, it will read – name, middle name if used, father last name, mother last name. Mom does not loses last name when she marries. Sometimes you can find that wife uses husband last name as sort of a possessive, you can find for example Maria Cruz de Dominguez, where Dominguez is the husband last name and the “de” would be spanish for “of”/”from”. On the children’s name, both parents last name are equally important and always used for legal documents.

    3. @mantresx Not only a thing in Mexico, but all Spanish-speaking countries.
      For example, Carlos Sainz Vázquez de Castro & Fernando Alonso Díaz in full.

  5. I really hope Sky makes Crofty say his full name from now on: Lewis Carl Davidson Hamilton-Larbalestier. While they’re at it, they can also make him say Carlos Sainz Vázquez de Castro every time.

    1. that is SIR Lewis Carl Davidson Hamilton-Larbalestier, thank you very much

      1. RandomMallard
        14th March 2022, 16:25

        I think you’ll actually find it’s Sir Lewis Carl Davidson Hamilton-Larbalestier MBE HonFREng (according to Wikipedia) :-p

        1. Obervation. Hamiltion fully embracing the British Class system

          1. good. he climbed up it from working class, he can do what he wants.

        2. To. RandomMallard,

          The late Murray Walker – “Unless I am very much mistaken . . . .”

    2. They will say Lewis Hamilton, and sometimes (like when he wins a race) Sir Lewis Hamilton. his mums name will be a middle name as has already been pointed out.

  6. Well it’s positive that Lewis Hamilton won’t win another championship.

    1. Now that’s funny :)

    2. COTD right there

    3. I wonder what he will do from a branding, marketing and merch perspective? Perhaps he will keep LH as a stage name.

    4. Thats right, Sir Lewis Hamilton will win the 8th

  7. Lovely gesture. A nice shout out for our mums, the greatest people on Earth.

  8. I feel sorry for Silverstone; they are going to need a longer straight.

    1. I feel sorry for Silverstone

      it really was a terrible thing he did there. Not sure if your excuses matter though :)

      1. He’s taking about the name of the (formerly named International Pits) Straight.

        1. Are they renaming it after the appalling action by Lewis?
          :)

  9. Lewisham Milton
    14th March 2022, 15:49

    In the interests of a balanced, diverse and inclusive comments section:
    Pretentious knob.

    1. This made me laugh. 👍

    2. You mean intrusive comments.

  10. Try saying that when you’re drunk …

    1. I’m still struggling with Keith Collantine & Claire Cottingham

      1. RocketTankski
        14th March 2022, 20:21

        They have to let go eventually. Then, make a run for it!

    2. Try saying that when you’re drunk …

      I have. It usually comes out as ‘dat or thass.

  11. A title. A double barreled surname. Very British.

  12. Your Mum has a cheeky smile Lewis ;)

    However.
    You say you changing your name to “include” your Mums Maiden name and a very quick anagram of Hamilton and Larbalestier gives me “Arrestable Hitman”

    So. Is it to be – Sir Lewis Arrestable Hitman – from now on? LOL

    Full marks to you dude it is a lovely show of love and respect ;)

    1. Your Mum has a cheeky smile Lewis

      Must have skipped a generation

  13. Good for him.
    I’ll remind people of the longest name ever in F1
    Alfonso Antonio Vicente Eduardo Angel Blas Francisco de Borja Cabeza de Vaca y Leighton, 11th Marquess of Portago

    1. @broke1984
      According to ‘Formula 1: The Knowledge (a brilliant book, by the way), his full name was
      Alfonso Antonio Vicente Eduardo Ángel Bías Francisco de Borja Cabeza de Vaca y Leighton, Carvajal y Are, XVII Marqués de Portago, Marqués de Moratalla, XIII Conde de la Mejorada, Conde de Pernía, Duque de Alagón y Grande de Espana.

      Only his mates call him ‘Alfonso Antonio Vicente Eduardo Angel Blas Francisco de Borja Cabeza de Vaca y Leighton, 11th Marquess of Portago’.

      1. @f1frog That would make him both 11th and 17th marquess of Portago. Was he is own farther like Dave Lister?

  14. Nice, and I can’t fault his reasoning on the subject. A question popped in my mind though: are the three letter abbreviations that go with every lap time sheet fixed on the first three letters of the surname, or can a rider ask for another one (in this case LHL, or something)?

    1. RandomMallard
      14th March 2022, 16:42

      I believe those 3 letter abbreviations are automatically assigned, but in the last the FIA has shown a willingness to let drivers change them.

      Most recently, Mick Schumacher was assigned SCH as his abbreviation, but successfully requested to change it to MSC after his father (which itself wasn’t the usual first 3 letters of the surname to distinguish between Michael and Ralf)

  15. When they’ve both retired from F1, Lewis and Seb need to team-up and then go off and change the world for the better.

    1. Barry Bens (@barryfromdownunder)
      14th March 2022, 20:43

      Like that one guy from Band of Brothers.

      Never to be heard from again…

  16. So Lewis Hamilton-Larbalestier soon.
    Hopefully, this will get noted in official FIA documents, live timing screens, TV graphics, entry lists, everything.

    1. live timing screens,

      aa bit long for those three letter boards at races.

      1. HAL should be easy

        1. Let’s hope it does not end the same way HAL ended then

  17. It’s a gesture towards his maternal grandfather and this lineage of his family more than his mother.

    “Because I don’t fully understand the idea that when people get married the woman loses their name.”
    Of course you don’t, Lewis.

    1. Excuse you?

  18. #firstworldproblems ;)

    1. @srga91
      How dare you :)

      1. @tifoso1989
        I can, because I graduated from the Royal Academy of Keyboard Warriors :)

  19. Good on him. It’s such an awkward thing these days. Hyphenating names is the only way to ensure the whole family has the same name but then there’s heaps of already hyphenated names so taking just the dad’s name becomes the default because that’s what we’ve always done (having 3 or 4 hyphens is just getting ridiculous!). The only neat solution is to make up a new surname for the whole family but then you lose the connection with the extended family. Such a dilemma!

  20. Hasn’t Horner said anything about this yet…?

    1. I’m sure Horner thinks it’s either an effort to get Masi fired, or to discredit Verstappen’s championship. Or perhaps he thinks it’s against the spirit of the rules.

      Either way, the name change should be worth 0.2 seconds a lap for the W13.

    2. RocketTankski
      14th March 2022, 20:19

      The Right Honourable Ser Christian Edward Gerriwell Johnston “Little Jack” Horner, OBE? He’s no doubt speaking to the higher-ups even now in regards to these darstardly Mercedes-related shenanigans!
      /s

    3. Nope, because it’s really uninteresting…

  21. He is including his mothers name. Probably before or after Carl. Nothing to do with surnames or double-barrelled names

  22. And then Horner gave an interview with a tabloid where he was quoted as saying that this was once again proof that Mercedes and Lewis were actively conspiring to discredit Max’s championship with Lewis lengthening his name in the record books to try to make Max’s appear less apparent by comparison.

    In all seriousness, this is a nice touch by Lewis for his mother.

  23. God be spouts some stupid stuff. The sooner he retires, the better.

  24. Barry Bens (@barryfromdownunder)
    14th March 2022, 20:42

    >when you haven’t had your name in the papers for 5 minutes

  25. I always assumed that we inherent one surname due to common sense. (Inheriting both would result in full name lengths quadrupling every other generation.) and it was the father’s surname because.. well the world hasn’t always been so hysterically virtuous I suppose.

    1. Yea lets hope his wife will be proud of her mother and have two surnames too. This way proud Hamiltons son would have four and proud grandson eight.

    2. It’s the father’s name because marriage used to mean your wife was your property…

      1. Bravo. So you believe we are all too stupid to recognise that, in 2022, marrying a woman does not make her our property, and we need to start adopting forty-eight second names else this be misconstrued?

        I have an idea.. how about we have a society which recognises a practical and harmless old tradition for what it is, and doesn’t mindlessly destroy every aspect of its history and culture for the sake of it?

        1. I think he was commenting on HOW IT WAS before the 70’s when a women married her Husband had everything to say financial (in the Netherlands for example) So a women couldn’t save money for herself for example.

          I am old enough to lived in those times….

          1. @macleod

            Doubtful, because it was never true. This is just a revisionist history.

          2. @aapje What are you talking about what i said is a fact without her husband permission a wedded womem couldn’t even open a bankaccount (In the Netherlands)
            Just ask your mother if she was married before the 1970’s

  26. Of all woke diva stuff Lewis gets up to….

    This one is resonable and decent. When I read the title, I feared the worst.

    Long live The GOAT challanger.

  27. So, practical question, how is “Larbalestier” to be pronounced in this particular case?

    Any chance it’s more intuitive than the whole Alex Jacques / “Jakes” mess?

  28. He should have taken his mother’s first name instead.

  29. While it is convention, women in the UK don’t “have” to take their husband’s name even though most do. When I got married I didn’t assume my wife would take my surname, we had a conversation about whether she wanted to and she said she did. If she wanted to keep her name that would have been fine by me. We have married friends where they have not taken their husbands names and we also know a couple who both decided to change to a double barrelled surname after their marriage (i.e. John Smith and Jane Jones became John Smith-Jones and Jane Smith-Jones).

    Each to their own.

  30. Lewis doing something the southern hemisphere of the entire planet is doing. Except he needs to broadcast it. I guess he really was short on attention during his childhood.

    1. Well Mayton, given your propensity to seek out and provide a negative post on each and every topic where and whenever Lewis is mentioned…

      I would ‘guess’ your latest missive is something you no doubt suffered from constantly.

      1. Even if that was true, I am not constantly seeking the media’s attention to compensate.

    2. You are correct he was totally short on attention during his childhood.
      His dad didn’t take him karting every weekend for years and years and he simply lucked into F1 while his parents were all off partying.

  31. Ok. This is lovely

    Because I don’t fully understand the idea that when people get married the woman loses their name.

    I once mentioned this on comment section, but people was so defensive.

    I hope more high profile people do the same.

  32. someone needs to tell Hamilton to concentrate on his career as an F1 driver .then do politics etc after he retires.

    1. Why? There doesn’t seem to be any evidence his stance on politics has affected his performance, so why shouldn’t he do both?

      1. Imagine how many titles Hamilton would’ve won if he stopped having a healthy, loving relationship with his friends and family you guys.

        Like, a million? Right?

    2. So he should give up his UN Ambassador role in respect of Goal4, the political pressure he exerts in respect of the change in law to protect those who suffer domestic abuse, his role within Unicef and Amb for Education Africa? Maybe the championing of young carers? I assume definitely his Amb role in respect of disabled vets worldwide, as that was at the request of the Crown?

  33. Should change it to Sir Lewis The GOAT Larbalestier Hamilton.

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