Rob McElhenney Seems Serious About This ‘Rob Mac’ Name-Change
The Rob McElhenney appears to have actually changed his name, unlike his character, who is somehow still sticking it out with “Ronald McDonald.”
On Always Sunny, McElhenney — or, I guess, “Rob Mac,” as he now insists on being called — is notoriously eager to make drastic changes to his own body for a bit. McElhenney famously gained 60 pounds for the “Fat Mac” arc back in 2011 before chiseling down to his current “Ripped Mac” era, but the most dramatic transformation McElhenney has undergone due to the success of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia may not be physical. Hell, it doesn’t even seem to be a joke.
Back in May, McElhenney and his wife Kaitlin Olson spoke to Variety about how their t fame has changed their lives. During the talk, McElhenney suggested that, given how many of his businesses and entertainment ventures have become global phenomena, it would make more career sense for him to shorten his surname to something that’s easily pronounced in every tongue.
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While some fans wrote this off as another one of McElhenney’s wild ideas of which his wife would never agree, it seems that McElhenney has indeed moved forward with or without Olson’s blessing to become Rob Mac, international businessman, according to the Always Sunny Season 17 logline:
“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 said of the name change back in May, revealing that, as he and Ryan Reynolds seek to add a second professional soccer team to their portfolio, he wants to don a more accessible moniker for possible fans in Central and South America.
As for how the McElhenney Family feels about the change, Olson was as blunt as her most famous character, though not nearly as crass. “The kids are really not happy about it, because they have that last name,” Olson said of her husband’s former surname. “And so do I, legally!”
Given McElhenney’s love for elaborately stupid jokes, the people in his life weren’t sure that the Rob Mac move was serious, especially seeing as he didn’t announce it to many of them. McElhenney’s Always Sunny co-star Glenn Howerton only learned of the name change when Variety reached out for a comment, answering them, “You could be telling me something that he’s joking about, or you could be telling me something where he could be in Downtown L.A. changing his name right now for all I know.”
Well, if the Always Sunny press material is any indication, Rob Mac is no joke — unless we later find out that it's actually short for “Robald MacDonald.”
