Cowboys cornerback Adam Jones made it official on Saturday.  He declared that he no longer wants to be known as “Pacman.”

And if you call him Pacman, he might whack you over the head with his stripper pole.

In all seriousness, we think it’s the right move.  A name is a key component of a person’s identity.  Willingness to change it reflects, in our view, a true desire to change.

“It’s really just a lot of negativity behind it.  It’s time for a change,” Jones said Saturday.  “I’m doing everything to make sure I’m all right as a person, mentally and emotionally.”

Jones spoke on Saturday at a youth basketball camp conducted by the Dallas Mavericks.  And, of course, he was introduced as Pacman.

“[Don’t] be a knucklehead, man,” Jones now tells anyone who’ll listen.  “Listen to what people tell you and surround yourself with good people.  And my situation, I didn’t really have anyone to tell me.  I didn’t have a father figure.  The biggest thing, I don’t want to see [the kids] go through what I went through.  I don’t think everybody could go through what I went through and still just be all right and not be in a mental institution or not just give up.”

Meanwhile, Jones’ mother will still have a license to call him “Pacman,” since she coined the term based on how he attacked the bottle when he was a baby.