Will Ferrell: This is why he doesn’t like his real first name

“Barbie” actor Will Ferrell (56) explains why he is never addressed by his birth name and that he doesn’t like being called that either. “I grew up as Will, but my name according to my birth certificate is John Ferrell,” the comedy star tells Christina Applegate (52) and Jamie-Lynn Sigler (43) in the current episode of . He actually wanted to talk to the actresses about the 20th anniversary of the comedy classic “Achorman” until he told Applegate, who suffers from MS, about a bad childhood memory.

After the actress asked Ferrell, who rose to fame as a “Saturday Night Live” actor in the 1990s, whether he always enjoyed being part of groups, the American recalled that as a child he thought “being funny was an easy way to make friends.” But even then, his real name bothered him.

Will Ferrell: “My name is John”

“This is a small thing in terms of – it’s not really a trauma – but I remember being so embarrassed because my real name is John, John William Ferrell. On the first day of school, the teacher called me John Ferrell and I was so embarrassed to have to say, ‘My name is Will, not John.'” For the first few weeks, he had to explain himself over and over again. “I don’t know why I was so embarrassed to have to explain, ‘I’m actually Will,'” he added. “But it was unbearable for me.”

However, the name change was not his choice. “My parents gave me the name John, but they called me Will. I grew up as Will, but on paper my legal name is John Ferrell.”

Another hairy topic

“The other thing that was a problem in my life was that my really straight blonde hair got curlier and curlier in elementary school,” Ferrell says, referring to the next childhood trauma. “The first day I was in junior high school, I couldn’t comb my hair anymore.” Ferrell still enjoys taking on the role of the “class clown” to this day, however.