Lamar Hernandez-Thorpe (left) with his Mexican family in 2007. Source: Lamar Hernandez-Thorpe
Judge grants petition to change his name to “Lamar A. Hernandez-Thorpe”
Changed name on 2024 campaign committee forms last September
By Allen D. Payton
After Antioch Mayor Lamar Thorpe added Hernandez to his last name on his 2024 re-election campaign committee name last September, it was made official on Monday, January 22, 2024. That day Thorpe was granted his petition by Contra Costa Superior Court Judge Virginia M. George to legally change his name to “Lamar Anthony Hernandez-Thorpe” to honor his Mexican foster parents who raised him.
List of 2024 Hernandez-Thorpe’s campaign finance documents filed last fall. Source: Antioch City Clerk
In 1981, Mayor Hernandez-Thorpe was born in prison to a mother addicted to heroin. At two days old, he was placed in foster care and raised by Mexican immigrants in East Los Angeles. As a result, his first language is Spanish. His parents, Guillermo O. and Teresa Hernandez, gave birth to two biological children and, as foster parents, adopted several others, all sharing their last name, “Hernandez”.
Hernandez-Thorpe hugs his father Guillermo at his 2020 election night party when he won the race for Mayor of Antioch. Source: Lamar Hernandez-Thorpe.
Hernandez-Thorpe’s foster parents fought to adopt him legally but failed as his biological mother retained her parental rights. While he is proud of his African American family and heritage, he is equally proud of his Mexican heritage instilled by his parents, the Hernandez’s.
In March of 2023, Mayor Hernandez-Thorpe announced that he would petition to change his name to “Hernandez-Thorpe”. Two days later, his father, Guillermo Hernandez, passed away from prostate cancer.
Hernandez-Thorpe said the process of changing his name was emotionally difficult.
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