Rob McElhenney Defends Name Change to ‘Rob Mac’

Rob McElhenney, soon to be known as Rob Mac, is defending the decision to change his last name.

In a recent post on X, McElhenney shared a brief video explaining why he abridged his last name for those still scratching their heads over the news.

“Hi! Okay, I’m going to dedicate exactly one minute to this. Start the clock,” McElhenney said in the video as a 60-second timer appeared on screen. “Yes, I’m shortening my name to Rob Mac. Mostly a stage name, but I digress. Is it kinda douchey? Sure. But the amount of time that I have wasted trying to get people to either say or spell my name correctly is days of my life.”

McElhenney went on to explain that his last name has gone through many spelling changes with each passing generation, adding that the most recent iteration came when his family arrived in America.

He said, “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.”

The name change was first revealed by the “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” star in a Variety cover story, in which he explained, “As I get older, and people are more prone to calling me ‘Mr.’ or’ Sir,’ I just say Rob or Rob Mac. And I find that that makes things a lot simpler and easier. People already call me Rob Mac or Mac, obviously, from the television show and it just makes things so much easier.”