MOST people have a middle name, but one woman has taken it a step further and has 77 of them.

To raise money for her charity and set a new record, Dawn McManus will now be legally known by a total of 79 names.

What started as a joke prompted the 41-year-old to become Red 77 Dreams, but instead of feeling embarrassed by her new moniker, she said it has brought her closer to her son, Kyle, who died of a brain haemorrhage in 2007 aged 16.

Mrs Dreams and her husband Ian, 42, from Hartlepool, set up the Red Dreams charity, which works with 11 to 19-year-olds to help them channel their creative energies.

Their initiative costs £50,000 a year to run, so to raise much-needed cash, she agreed to change her name by Deed Poll to honour those the charity has helped since it was established in 2008 if a target of £500 was reached.

Between 500 and 600 people have benefitted from the charity, which was named after the vivid dreams Kyle would have, which always included the colour red.

She said: “Maybe only people who have lost a child understand this, but when Kyle passed away, I went, as well as the whole life I had before.

“My life completely changed, so it has been liberating to change my name and it has made me feel closer to him.

“Hopefully I will be known as Red 77 Dreams, the 77 referring to the number of names in the middle but, if not, it is going to take half an hour to tell people what it is.

“The more money I raise, the longer I will keep it. I have got absolutely no problem with it and I am quite prepared to keep it for the rest of my life to help keep our son’s memory in the spotlight.

“Some people from outside the charity think what I have done is odd and ask whether I realise that it is legal.

“They think it is a gimmick and look at me a bit strangely but they do not understand I am quite happy with it.”

Her full name is Red - Wacky League - Antlez - Broke the Stereo – Neon Tide - Bring Back Honesty – Coalition – Feedback – Hand of Aces – Keep Going Captain – Let’s Pretend – Lost State of Dance – Paper Taxis – Lunar Road - Up! Down! Strange! – All and I – Neon Sheep – Eve Hornby - Faye Bradley – AJ Wilde – Michael Rice – Dion Watts – Matthew Appleyard – John Ashurst – Lauren Swales – Zoe Angus – Jaspreet Singh – Emma Matthews – Nicola Brown – Leanne Pickering – Victoria Davies – Rachel Burnside – Gil Parker – Freya Watson - Alisha Watts – James Pearson - Jacob Sotheran-Darley - Beth Lowery – Jasmine Hewitt – Chloe Gibson - Molly Farquhar - Lewis Murphy – Abbie Coulson – Nick Davies - Harvey Parker - Kyran Williamson - Michael Anderson - Bethany Murray - Sophie Hamilton - Amy Wilkins - Emma Simpson - Liam Wales - Jacob Bartram - Alex Hooks - Rebecca Miller - Caitlin Miller - Sean McCloskey - Dominic Parker - Abbey Sharpe – Elena Larkin – Rebecca Simpson - Nick Dixon – Abbie Farrelly – Liam Grieves – Casey Smith – Liam Downing – Ben Wignall – Elizabeth Hann - Danielle Walker - Lauren Glen - James Johnson – Ben Ervine - Kate Burton - James Hudson - Daniel Mayes - Matthew Kitching – Josh Bennett – Evolution – Dreams.

Tina Clough, from the Legal Deed Poll Service, said: “We have processed a number of crazy name changes to date, but this is the longest one on record.

“It is great that Dawn has chosen a name so close to her heart that will raise awareness of the great work that Red Dreams takes part in on behalf of the local community.”

Anne-Lise Rouse, of Guinness World Records, said it did not have such a record on its database.

The longest name to appear on a birth certificate is for Rhoshandiatellyneshiaunneveshenk Koyaanisquatsiuth Williams, born to Mr and Mrs James Williams in Beaumont, Texas, US, on September 12, 1984.

Mrs Dreams hopes changing her name will raise awareness of the charity and prompt more donations. To donate to the Red Dreams charity, visit justgiving.com/ red-dreams-namechange