Update : December 29, 2020

Name changes

• Lew Alcindor (UCLA basket ball champion, NBA champion with LA Lakers) changed his name to Kareem Abdul Jabbar.
  
• Cassius Clay Jr. (Olympic Light Heavyweight Boxing Champion, three-time World Heavyweight Boxing Champion) changed his name to Muhammad Ali.
  
• An Italian American Chemist (named Salvitore) received a book from his supervisor as a Christmas gift.
  After reading a chapter (on Dhammapada), he left for Burma to be ordained as a Buddhist monk named U Lokathana.
  
• The Buddhist Archbishop of Latvia and Lithuania (named Tennyson) and his discipline (named F. Ludvig) were offered a monastery in the Ah Lei Pyitsayan on Shwe Dagon Pagoda. Ludvig succeeded his mentor as the Buddhist Archbishop.
  He was known as “Moke Seik Phone Gyi”.
  He became a Theravada monk with the name “Ashin Ananda”.
  He is a Laureate Poet.
  
• Maung Paw
  Saya U Htin Paw aka Maung Htin Paw in his early years
  
• Khin Zaw (KMZ)
  Khin Maung Zaw’s middle name is ignored by his colleagues
  
• San Lin Maung
  Some were assigned “Maung” as the last name (due to P/P)
  
• Several monks have to explain to immigration that U, Ashin and Venerable are prefixes for monks.
  
• Some have hyphenated names. e.g. Maung Tin-Wa
  
• Some modified the names so that they can be pronounced easily by non-Burmese.
  e.g. Kai (for Khine), Kin (for Khin)