Hoping to raise money for his family and an orphanage, a 29-year-old Marine is running an online auction in which the winning bidder will get to give him a new name — and he promises to make it legally binding.
"I've always thought about different cool inventions and neat ideas like this," said Sgt. Cody Baker, an Alabama native who was most recently stationed in Japan but is transferring to Camp Lejeune this month. "It's just the way my mind works. Most of them are off the wall like this. They just sound ridiculous."
The bidding at Baker's Web site, http://www.choosemyname.com, began July 20, with a $5 offer to name him Mr. Clean.
Later bids supporting such names as George Bailey of Bedford Falls and Mr. Right gave way to a $26,333.31 offer from an online coffee vendor that wants the name tape on Baker's uniform to display its slogan, "Finest Freshest Fastest."
"It will be my name, legally on paper," he said. "I guess everything that comes with the name Cody Baker will transform into whatever my name becomes."
Baker said the money will help support his wife and infant son while he goes to college after leaving the Marine Corps in a year and a half.
Some of the proceeds will also go to Im Jai House, an orphanage in Thailand that Baker has supported during his six-year career in uniform.
"Whatever his name is, we'll put him to work doing what the Marine Corps does best: accomplishing missions," said Lt. Philip Klay, a spokesman for Baker's future unit at Camp Lejeune.
