Scotty MacDonald is a graduate of Royal Roads and a certified stunt driver. He has also been struck by lightning (but the curls are natural). On Feb. 2, 2007 he will legally change his name to one chosen by the highest bidder.

Scotty MacDonald is making a name for himself…a new name, in fact.

As of February 2, 2007 (Groundhog Day), MacDonald will legally change his name for one year, to whatever the highest bidder chooses.

It’s not that Scott dislikes his name. In fact, quite the contrary, according to his website, www.choosemy-name. blogspot.com.

And it’s not because he is tiring of being known as Kyle’s younger brother (Kyle of oneredpaperclip.com fame). After all, there are some things you can’t change.

The soon-to-be-24-year-old simply recognizes the potential of the idea. He hopes to have some fun while at the same time making some money toward paying off his student loans. Scott, who turns 24 on Boxing Day, recently graduated with his Bachelor of Commerce degree from Royal Roads University in Victoria, B.C.

There is a charitable aspect to his newest venture, too, which he likes. Ten per cent of the winning bid will be donated to Im Jai House, an orphanage in Thailand.

MacDonald says the choice of Im Jai House is in keeping with the wishes of the originator of the idea for choosemyname.com.

That fellow is Cody Baker of North Carolina, who actually started up the site. Sgt. Baker volunteered at Im Jai House while stationed in Thailand with the U.S. Marine Corps.

According to the website: “Cody Baker originally started this site and was going to change his name on New Year’s Eve, but he was unable to continue, due to circumstances beyond his control…Cody offered me (Scott) an early Christmas gift of taking over the project, so here I am looking for a new name.”

It will be the second 50-day adventure for the Belcarra, B.C. native (he’s currently “hangin’ out” in Kipling) in the past few months.

On Nov. 28, he and a friend, Matt “Fiddy” Fidler completed an odyssey which saw them hitchhike almost 24,000 miles, to visit all 50 U.S. state capitals in 50 days.

The latest venture won’t require quite so much travelling, though he is still open to suggestions as to where he should be when he makes the announcement of his new name on Feb. 2. (We suspect there might be a groundhog involved.)

Following that, though, Scott and his girlfriend Teresa will hand deliver 10 per cent of the winning bid to Thailand and plan to spend some time there working as volunteers.

To date, Im Jai House for orphans and AIDS affected children stands to benefit to the tune of about $3,000 U.S.! That is based on the current bid by a .com store of $30,000.01 to have Scotty become its very own, walking, talking advertisement for a whole year!

“Hi! My name is FreebieStore.com!”
Hm-m-m. It does have a ring to it. Sort of.