Rob McElhenney shortens name to Rob Mac: 'Purely practical'
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“The amount of time that I have wasted trying to get people to either spell or say my name correctly is literally days of my life,” he explained.

LOS ANGELES — “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” actor Rob McElhenney wants to make one thing clear: don’t overthink his decision to legally shorten his name. 

In fact, he wants fans to spend as little time thinking about it — and trying to pronounce it — as possible.

In a short video posted Tuesday on social media, McElhenney — who, going forward, will be legally known as Rob Mac — offered a rapid-fire defense of his recent legal name change request, acknowledging the move might seem “kinda douchey” but insisting it’s purely practical.

“The amount of time that I have wasted trying to get people to either spell or say my name correctly is literally days of my life,” he said as a 60-second countdown timer ticked away on screen. “Trust me, I added it up.”

The 48-year-old actor, who co-created the long-running comedy series set in Philadelphia, framed the decision as an act of kindness toward his fans.

“More importantly, it means thousands of you have had minutes of your life stolen by me because of my last name,” he explained, as the video ran through examples of various mispronunciations he’s endured over the years.

Mac first revealed the name change in an interview with Variety, telling the magazine that people already called him “Rob Mac” anyway, referencing his iconic character from the FX sitcom.

McElhenney is “not even really our name,” he added. “Not only have many generations changed its spelling, the current one was just given to my ancestor by a government official who decided that this was now the spelling.”

His wife and co-star, actress Kaitlin Olson, said in the May “Variety” interview that she and the couple’s two kids still have the McElhenney surname. 

“Honestly, call me whatever you want — Marion, Jerome, Archibald, Eric, Maurice, Stephanie, Frances, Marvin, Gordon or Sam,” he continued in the video. “But maybe we just keep it simple and try Rob Mac.”

Legal documents filed in Los Angeles confirmed the name change became official this week. 

After nearly two decades of playing Mac on screen, the actor said his family “knows me and loves me regardless of how many syllables I have,” and that, he concluded as his timer hit zero, “is the only thing that I really care about.”

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