The It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia and Welcome to Wrexham star is officially changing his name to “Rob Mac.” He legally filed in Los Angeles to change his name, confirming the news to Variety on Friday, June 27. (The name change was first reported by TMZ.)
Mac actually revealed his plans to shorten his moniker in a cover story with Variety in May, saying it’s always been a source of confusion. “As our business [More Better Industries] 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,” he said.
He added at the time, “People already call me ‘Rob Mac’ or ‘Mac,’ obviously from the TV show. It just makes things so much easier.”
His wife of 17 years, Kaitlin Olson, with whom he shares sons Axel Lee, 14, and Leo Grey, 13, was still getting used to the “Mac” idea, telling Variety in the same interview, “The kids are really not happy about it, because they have that last name. And so do I, legally!”
Apparently, some fans have noticed that all of FX’s recent press releases for both Always Sunny and Wrexham have already started crediting the actor as “Rob Mac.”
Mac’s name has been the butt of the joke for some time now, with his friend and Wrexham AFC co-owner Ryan Reynolds releasing a music video poking fun at McElhenney pronunciation in 2023 on his birthday.
“Despite the accolades, despite the load of fame / One thing that they do not know is how to say his name,” Reynolds, 48, crooned of Mac’s admirers. (Basically, he sang, just say, “Mackle-Henney.”)
“I did a deep dive into my ancestry, and so I was always very proud of the name, which is why I didn’t change it in the beginning, when everybody was begging me to,” Mac told Variety. “When you’re first starting out, they’re like, ‘Let’s just have a stage name.'”
Soon enough, Mac came to realize that a stage name probably would’ve helped his cause much earlier. To be honest, even his siblings are jealous of the last name change.
“My brother said, ‘I was actually considering running for government in Culver City, and I was going to be ‘Pat Mac,'” Rob explained, adding that his sister Katie, who has written for Always Sunny and Mythic Quest also told him that “literally every person in the world calls me Katie Mac.'”
“It turns out, as I did my genealogy and I got it back, my last name has been changed so many times. As late as the ’60s, there were an offshoot of the McElhenneys that changed our name. And so it’s not like everybody was so precious about it prior to 1965,” he told Variety.
Rob is now more well-known for his business savvy than onscreen work. He has upped his More Better Industries global investments recently, including a pair of soccer teams in Colombia and Mexico, and stakes in apparel, tech and alcohol companies.
