"Some people call him by the name he was given at birth. Others use the one he gave himself in a filing in Los Angeles County Superior Court. There also is a handful of people who stumble, not sure what to say.

Welcome to the new world of the former Ron Artest.

The Lakers forward was officially allowed to change his name to Metta World Peace after paying an unspecified number of outstanding parking tickets, as per a judge's order, in September.

Since then, Lakers practices and games are a grab bag of names for the guy wearing No. 15. Ron. Metta. Ron-Ron. Peace.

A little help?

"I told the guys, 'Don't feel bad if you call me Ron,' " World Peace said Thursday. "If fans want to call me Ron, not Metta, that's all right, I don't have a problem."

One person always calls him by his new name.

"Mitch [Kupchak] is the only one who's consistent with it," World Peace said, referring to the Lakers general manager. "Coach [Mike Brown] calls me Ron when he's mad at me."

Not so. Brown claimed to call him World Peace.

"I'm trying, but nobody's helping me," Brown said. "I'd like to try and call him Metta because he said he spent a lot of money [on the name change] so I want help him at least earn his money back a little bit.""