RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (Reuters) -- A Saudi Arabian man who called his son Saddam Hussein 14 years ago is now desperately trying to have the name changed.

Mohsen al-Harithy first asked the relevant authorities to change his son's name in 1990, when the forces of the now-desposed Iraqi president invaded neighbouring Kuwait, the Saudi English-language Arab News newspaper reported on Monday.

But the boy's file was destroyed by an Iraqi missile attack on the civil status department in the Saudi capital Riyadh in the 1991 war to liberate Kuwait.

"After I found the paper was gone, I forgot about the whole thing but recent events and the capture of Saddam force me to change the name," he said. "The Saddam name now symbolises pessimism, evil, mockery and disappointment all at once."

Saddam, once regarded as a hero by Arabs for adopting policies against the United States and Israel, was captured by U.S. troops in December without a fight. A U.S.-led invasion toppled Saddam in April...