Will Ferrell has spoken about having felt "so embarrassed" over his "real name" when he was younger, adding that trying to use his preferred name became "excruciating".
The actor, 56 - rose to fame on Saturday Night Live - has said that he was born John William Ferrell but chose to go by Will from an early age. He reminisced about his name during a recent appearance on the podcast MeSsy.
It reunited him with his Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004) co-star Christina Applegate, 52, who hosts the podcast with fellow actor Jamie-Lynn Sigler, 43. Will appeared on the latest episode, released on Tuesday.
Discussing his childhood, Will commented: "[I was a] very conscientious student but at an early age still liked trying to make my friends laugh. I was like a conscientious class clown. I would goof around to a point - if the teacher said 'please stop,' I'm like 'you got it'."
He later told the co-hosts that "being funny was an easy way to make friends," before bringing up his name. Will said: "This is like a minor thing in terms of ... it's not really even trauma ... but I remember feeling so embarrassed because my real name is John - John William Ferrell. So first day of school, it'd be John. 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.'"
The actor - who is among the voice cast of the new film Despicable Me 4 (2024) - added: "And for the first week of school ... it took like a week before the teacher remembered 'that's right, you're Will.' And that was excruciating to me. So the beginning of my school year was always like 'oh, my gosh, I hate this. I have to remind the teacher that I'm not John'."
Jamie-Lynn then asked: "What was it about John that you didn't like?" Will responded: "It wasn't my choice. My parents named me John but they called me Will. I grew up as Will. But on a rule sheet, my legal name [is] John Ferrell." Will continued: "I don't know why that was so embarrassing to me to have to explain 'I'm actually Will.' [...] People are gonna be listening to this going 'that is the lamest thing ever'." Christina teased: "We just lost anyone named John."
It isn't the first time that Will has spoken about his name. He previously discussed it whilst on the Late Late Show with James Corden in 2020. He told host James Corden that his father does sometimes reference his first name in a nickname, saying: "So my dad on occasion will call me J.W."
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