Metta World Peace Changes Name Again, 'Metta Sandiford-Artest'

Metta World Peace is no more ... the former NBA superstar says he's changed his name again -- this time to Metta Sandiford-Artest.

The ex-Lakers forward, formerly known as Ron Artest, revealed the latest moniker swap on "Inside the Green Room with Danny Green" this week ... saying the newest change was to honor his wife, Maya Sandiford.

"I actually took my wife's last name and ended it in my last name," Metta said.

Of course, Metta gained GLOBAL fame back in 2011 when he changed his name to Metta World Peace ... explaining at the time he wanted "to inspire and bring youth together all around the world."

But, Metta revealed to Danny Green on the show that he actually was initially embarrassed by it ... saying he thought to himself early on at NBA games, "This is the dumbest thing ever."

In fact, Metta even said there was a time when he was debating changing it all to "Queensbridge" or "So Hood."

But, Metta told Green he eventually got used to "World Peace" ... and didn't feel the need to change it again until this year.

"What's funny is I got married," Metta said, "and my name now is Metta Sandiford-Artest."

By the way ... when it comes to those reports that Metta had changed his name to "Panda Friend" when he moved to play ball in China in '14 -- he said those were just not true.

"People said, 'Metta's changing his name to 'Panda Friend!'" Metta explained. "So I just rode with it!"