There was a report over the weekend that the ongoing shutdown of the federal government was delaying 49ers safety Donte Whitner’s bid to change his last name to Hitner.
You can blame the shutdown for the uninspected meat on your family’s dinner table or the fact that you can’t take the kids to Yellowstone, but Whitner’s name remains Whitner for other reasons. Whitner has filed a request to change his name in Ohio and Cam Inman of the Bay Area News Group reports that a hearing will be held on November 19 in Cayuhoga County Probate Court.
Should Whitner’s name change application be granted, he could have Hitner on the back of his jersey for the team’s November 25 game. Selling shirts and other apparel related to the Hitner name is front and center in the application filed in Ohio.
“The requested name change will be beneficial to applicant’s career as a professional football player and in other business ventures further, the requested name does not involve potential for fraud, will not interfere with the rights of others, will not permit the applicant to avoid legal duty, and is not contrary to the public policy of this state.”
Should Whitner become Hitner, he will have to buy back remaining replica jerseys with Whitner on them before he’s allowed to put the new name on the back of his jersey. If the benefits to his career and business sidelines are as big as the name change application suggests, that would be just a drop in the bucket for the impending free agent.