Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. The Utah Supreme Court says so.
A majority of justices Friday sanctioned efforts by a Utah Transit Authority bus driver to legally change his name to Santa Claus.
David Lynn Porter — who sports a long, white beard and occasionally a red-and-white hat — is already a part-time professional impersonator of the jolly ol' elf, working parties from Park City to Provo.
"I've wanted to play Santa my whole life," the 43-year-old said. "But I never liked the fake beards. When I grew one, it came in just the way I wanted, and people started calling me Santa Claus. Especially little kids on the bus."
Porter wants to wear a UTA name tag that reads "S. Claus," but his superiors told him they would allow it only if the courts agreed to the name change.
Porter was disappointed in August when 3rd District Judge Timothy Hanson refused.
Hanson said that the name Santa Claus would "create confusion, misunderstanding and, intended or unintended, could allow for substantial mischief."
But three of Utah's five Supreme Court justices disagreed.
"Porter's proposed name may be thought by some to be unwise, and it may very well be more difficult for him to conduct his business and his normal everyday affairs as a result," Justice Michael Wilkins wrote. "However, Porter has the right to select the name by which he is known, within very broad limits."
Two other judges felt Porter's case fell outside those limits.
"Although the primary reason for denying a requested name change application is fraud, requesting a court to approve a name change requires additional considerations not mentioned by the majority opinion," Associate Chief Justice Leonard Russon wrote.
A judge in a similar case last year in Ohio denied a petitioner's request to change his name to Santa Robert Claus, Russon said.
"The petition is seeking more than a name change," that trial court ruled. "He is seeking the identity of an individual that this culture has recognized throughout the world, for well over 100 years. Thus, the public has a propriety interest, a propriety right in the identify of Santa Claus, both in the name and the persona."
Russon said allowing Porter to change his name "would certainly be against public policy" because he would be taking on the identity of "an icon of our culture existing in the minds of millions of children and adults."
Porter says he just wants to bring a little joy to children.
And his wife wants in on the action, too.
"She does Ms. Claus with me at Christmas parties," he said, "and she also wants to change her name. But all we have to do is get remarried to do that."
E-mail: mtitze@desnews.com