Maria Sharapova's name change brings back memories of other sportstars doing the same

7) Sharmon Shah/Abdul-Karim al-Jabbar

Yes, you read that right. The man pictured above is NOT the famous NBA player and no. 10 on our list, Kareem Abdul Jabbar.

No, the man in the image above is Abdul Karim al-Jabbar. The story of how he came to be Abdul Karim al-Jabbar is quite intriguing.

Sharmon Shah was his birth name and he shot to fame on the back of his success as a running back for UCLA in the early 90s. Shah would often wear the no. 33 jersey, so that was another thing that he shared with Jabbar, the NBA star, apart from also being from UCLA.

Following the advice of his Imam, Shah changed his name to Karim Abdul Jabbar. Needless to say, this irked Kareem Abdul Jabbar the NBA star, who demanded that Shah change his name so as not to profit from using Abdul Jabbar’s name. The NBA star even went as far as to sue Shah for using his name illegally.

Following the lawsuit, Shah changed his name to Abdul, and then again to Abdul-Karim al-Jabbar.

So, Sharmon Shah briefly became Karim Abdul Jabbar, which was changed to Abdul and finally became Abdul-Karim al-Jabbar. Quite a tale, huh?