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The first day of school is never easy. It was especially awkward for Will Ferrell, as he had to deal with being called by his real name: John.
“On the first day of school, the teacher would be like, ‘John Ferrell,’ and it was so embarrassing to me to have to say, ‘Here. But I go by Will, I don’t go by John,'” Ferrell told Christina Applegate and Jamie-Lynn Sigler on Tuesday’s episode of the MeSsy podcast. His full name is John William Ferrell.
“It was excruciating,” the “Barbie” actor, 56, said, explaining that teachers would often take a week to remember to call him Will. “So the beginning of the school year was always like, ‘Oh my gosh, I hate this.'”
When asked why the name John embarrassed him, Ferrell said he didn’t know. “It wasn’t by choice. My parents named me John but called me Will,” he said.
“People are probably going to be listening to this going, ‘That is the lamest thing ever,'” he said. Applegate laughed, pointing out that they probably lost any listeners named John.
Reflecting further on his school days, Ferrell shared how his humor helped him socially.
“I think, definitely, being funny was an easy way to make friends, not to feel like being an outsider, and it was a way to ingratiate yourself into a group,” Ferrell said.
Why names can cause embarrassment
As names are closely tied to our identities, insecurities about them can affect our self-esteem and confidence, Dr Annabelle Chow, a clinical psychologist and director at Annabelle Kids, told Business Insider.
She added that children who feel insecure about their name might find it difficult to introduce themselves and make friends.
“Used to his loved ones calling him ‘Will,’ he could have formed an emotional connection to this name. His self-concept was built around the ‘Will’ identity, and that was who he had known himself to be,” Chow said.
Celebrities are not the only ones who go by different names. In 2002, fashion designer Ralph Lauren told Oprah that he changed his last name from Lifshitz to Lauren when he was 16, after being bullied in school.
Jack Ma, the founder of Alibaba, was born Ma Yun, but he used the Westernised name “Jack” to make his name more accessible to a global audience.
A representative for Ferrell did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent outside regular business hours.
