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The man who drunkenly changed his name to Celine Dion has said he isn’t going to change it back.
The Staffordshire resident formerly known as Thomas Dodd applied to legally change his name via deed poll to that of the Canadian singer on Christmas Eve.
However, he had no memory of taking the plunge when he woke up the next day, and only found out when eight copies of a deed poll later arrived at his house.
In a new first-person piece for Metro, Dodd explained that he was a huge fan of Dion. “Her music is also what has seen me through lockdown; watching her concerts has been my go-to activity when there’s been nothing else to do,” he said.
“Maybe it’s a bigger surprise this didn’t happen sooner!”
He went on to say that he “got used to being Celine very quickly” and that, since going viral, people have started to recognise him on the street. “I was on the escalator in ASDA a few weeks ago and someone shouted ‘Celine!’” he said. “I turned around and waved back as if it was completely normal.”
Of what Dion herself might think, Dodd reckoned that “because she’s a little bit loopy like me, she’ll find it funny”, but added that he needed to apologise to her for “causing chaos”.
Although he said life under the name Celine Dion had been “great so far”, there were some cons to the name change. “I hurt my shoulder a few weeks ago and I didn’t want to go to the hospital for fear they would think I’d hit my head,” he explained.
Despite that, Dodd said he had no plans to return to his birth name. “I have no desire to change it again – I’m 100 per cent committed,” he said. “That is until I next have a bit too much to drink.”
Speaking in an interview after his name change initially went viral, Dodd said it was only his moniker that had been altered. “I tried singing Celine in the shower this morning and I can assure everyone I haven’t inherited her voice or bank balance,” he joked.
Meanwhile, the real Dion was scheduled to head out on a UK arena tour last year but was forced to postpone the shows due to the coronavirus pandemic. The tour is currently planned to kick off in April.
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