Rob McElhenney isnโt making any apologies over his decision to change his name, but he is making a few jokes about it.
The โItโs Always Sunny in Philadelphiaโ star addressed the move amid reports he has filed paperwork to change his name.
โYes, Iโm shortening my name to Rob Mac,โ he said in the July 1 clip he posted on X, confirming the news himself. โMostly a stage name, but I digress.โ
He then used his trademark humor to explain just what has gone into his decision.
โThe 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,โ he said, as quick clips of others saying his name wrong played in the middle of him speaking, โTrust me, I added it up.
โMore importantly, it means thousands of you have had minutes of your life stolen by me because of my last name.โ
McElhenney playfully pointed out the false connection the family has to the moniker.
โStill, itโs a family name,โ he said. โMy grandparents, parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins and I all share it, and I love them and I want to stay connected. Thereโs heritage. Except, itโs not even really our f—— name.
He then explained how different generations have changed the spelling of it.
โThe current one was just given to my ancestor by a government official who decided that this was now the spelling,โ he said, while also revealing his great-great-grandmother went by Bridget McIllhenny.
McElhenney then dove into how ridiculous the whole matter is.
โTimes have changed and most people already call me Rob Mac anyway,โ he said. โMy family knows me and loves me regardless of how many syllables I have, and thatโs 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.”
McElhenney also said heโs OK with whatever name people want to give him, using the actual first names of celebrities as their pictures appeared on the screen.
โHonestly, call me whatever you want: Marion, Jerome, Archibald, Eric, Maurice, Stephanie, Frances, Marvin, Gordon or Sam. But maybe we just keep it simple and try Rob Mac. Letโs see how it goes,โ he said.
In May, McElhenney opened up about how he was mulling over a name change in the wake of his multimedia company, More Better Industries, adding to its global portfolio.
โAs our business and our storytelling is expanding into other regions of the world and other languages in which my name is even harder to pronounce, Iโm just going by Rob Mac,โ he told Variety.
The level of difficulty in pronouncing โMcElhenneyโ is old hat. In 2023, his friend and fellow co-owner of Wrexham A.F.C. soccer club, Ryan Reynolds, released a humorous video about how to say it.
โItโs Mackle-Henney, itโs Mackle-Henney,โ Reynolds sang with a roster of guest stars, including McElhenney’s wife, Kaitlin Olson, and Philadelphia Eagles legend Jason Kelce.
