Rob McElhenney moves to legally change his name due to people mispronouncing it

LOS ANGELES: Actor Rob McElhenney has legally filed in Los Angeles to change his name to “Rob Mac.”

The ‘Welcome to Wrexham’ star had earlier discussed his plans to make the change due to the difficulty some people have pronouncing it.

In a previous interview with Variety, Mac said, “As 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, I’m just going by Rob Mac.”

McElhenney is also co-owner of Wrexham AFC football (soccer, for US readers) club with Ryan Reynolds. The duo, which purchased the team in 2020, also serve as executive producers on the FX docuseries Welcome to Wrexham, which follows the team.

In 2023, Reynolds created a musical video for McElhenney’s birthday in which he taught people how to pronounce the name with the help of some famous faces, including Kaitlin Olson, McElhenney’s wife and Sunny co-star, as per Variety.

“Sure, he’s got a pretty face that people know they know,” Reynolds sang. “They think they recognise him from his big-time TV show. But despite the accolades, despite the load of fame, one thing that they do not know is how to say his name.”

The lyrics go on to explains that the name rhymes with “tackle penny.”

“It’s McElhenney, it’s McElhenney, while ways to massacre and mispronounce it are many. It’s McElhenney, it’s McElhenney, if there was doubt, now there won’t be any. It’s McElhenney!” the song continued. (ANI)