Ochocinco Is Oh So Over; NFL Player Officially Goes Back To His Old Name

By Mark Memmott

Published July 23, 2012 at 1:30 PM CDT

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The then-Chad Ochocinco when he was with the Cincinnati Bengals in 2009. He had changed his name the year before. Now, he's back to being Chad Johnson.

Stephen Dunn

Chad Ochocinco has been deep-sixed.

After unofficially changing his name (but not his @ochocinco Twitter handle) back to what it used to be, the Miami Dolphins' No. 85 officially once again became Chad Johnson today.

"The main reason behind the name change was due to his marriage to Evelyn Lozada," it says at the OchoCinco News Network (and it must be true because @ochocinco points you there). "The couple preferred Evelyn's last name to be a real name and not the fun 'Ochocinco' character we have come to love."

USA Today's The Huddle blog says the wide receiver "reclaimed his given name in a Fort Lauderdale courthouse Monday." Now, the blog wonders, will he regain his form? It picked apart his average season numbers:

-- "As Chad Johnson (7 seasons): 80 rec., 1,195 yards, 7 TDs."

-- "As Chad Ochocinco (4 seasons): 52 rec., 674 yards, 5 TDs."

According to NFL.com, it cost Ochocinco ... er, Johnson ... cuatrocientos un dolar ($401) to become himself again. By the way, NFL.com hasn't totally caught up with the news yet. There's no "Chad Johnson" in its player archives at this moment. But "Chad Ochocinco" is there.

Now, we turn our eyes toward the NBA's Metta World Peace (formerly known as Ron Artest).