Rob McElhenney is opening up on why he is officially changing his name to “Rob Mac” — though he knows it’s “kind of douchey.”
“I’m going to dedicate exactly one minute to this. Start the clock. Yes, I’m shortening my name to Rob Mac. Mostly a stage name, but I digress,” the It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia star, 48, shared with his followers in a video shared via social media on Tuesday, July 1. “Is it kind of douchey? Sure. But the amount of time that I have wasted trying to get people to either say or spell my name correctly is literally days of my life. Trust me, I added it up. More importantly, it means thousands of you have had minutes of your life stolen by me because of my last name.”
McElhenney went on to say that while there’s a lot of family history behind his last name, which is rooted in Irish heritage, the spelling of it has changed over the generations.
“My grandparents, parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins and I all share it, and I love them and I want to stay connected. There’s heritage. Except, it’s not even really our f***ing name,” he said.
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“Not only have many generations changed the spelling, the current one was just given to my ancestor by a government official who decided that this was now the spelling,” he added, revealing that his great-great-grandmother’s last name was spelled “McIlhenny.”
McElhenney continued, “Times have changed and most people already call me Rob Mac anyway. My family knows me and loves me regardless of how many syllables I have, and that’s the only thing that I really care about.”
“There are so many things going on in the world and this is a silly one to continue to waste your time with. Honestly, call me whatever you want. Marion, Jerome, Archibald, Eric, Maurice, Stephanie, Francis, Marvin, Gordon, or Sam,” he quipped. “But maybe we just keep it simple and try Rob Mac. Let’s see how it goes.”
The Welcome to Wrexham star confirmed to Variety on Friday, June 27, that he had officially filed legal documents in Los Angeles to change his name to “Rob Mac.” TMZ was first to report the news.
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McElhenney first teased the move in an interview with Variety in May. “People already call me ‘Rob Mac’ or ‘Mac,’ obviously from the TV show. It just makes things so much easier,” he said.
The comedian’s wife, High Potential star Kaitlin Olson, told the outlet that she and the couple’s children — Axel Lee, 14, and Leo Grey, 13 — were still getting used to the idea.
The actress said, “The kids are really not happy about it, because they have that last name. And so do I, legally!”
