Will Ferrell has revealed his actual first name is John but he was “so embarrassed” by it growing up that he went by his middle name.
Speaking to fellow actors Christina Applegate and Jamie-Lynn Sigler in the July 9, 2024, episode of their MeSsy podcast, Ferrell said he always asked teachers to call him Will.
“I remember feeling so embarrassed because my real name is John, John William Ferrell, so first day of school, I’d be John,” the 56-year-old explained.
“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 said the first week of each school year was “excruciating to me”, until teachers got the hang of calling him Will and not John.
Applegate asked why Ferrell disliked his birth name so much.
“It wasn’t my choice,” he replied.
“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.”
