The folks at the Smoking Gun have gotten their mitts on the document filed by the person formerly known as Chad Johnson to change his name, and the document authorizing the new moniker.

And these documents contain some interesting details.

For starters, the name requested, and awarded, to Johnson isn’t “Ocho Cinco.”  Instead, it’s “Ochocinco.”  One word.  No spaces, no hyphens.

The request also contains a concession that Mr. Ochocinco was convicted of misdemeanor battery in 2000, and charged with trespass and obstruction in 1996.

And, most importantly, the request and the final judgment awarding the name change acknowledge that there is no “ulterior purpose” for this name change.

No ulterior purpose?  What a joke.

Clearly, there was an ulterior purpose; Johnson decided that he wants to be able to flounce around on a football field with the name of his alter ego emblazoned on his back, without getting his ass fined into the stone ages by the NFL.

That’s why the change was requested as one word — Ochocinco.  The goal was to not raise any suspicions regarding the obvious ulterior purpose.

Though football fans know all about Johnson’s bizarre fascination with referring to himself as the Spanish translation of the two numbers on his football jersey, if the judge wasn’t aware of any of that, the judge might have concluded that “Ochocinco” was merely Johnson’s mother’s maiden name.

And since neither the NFL nor anyone else has any apparent legal standing to challenge or appeal the decision, there’s nothing anyone can do at this point to change it back.

Why do we care?  As we pointed out on SportingNews.com, this whole thing creates a very bad precedent.