For most of us, the name Macaulay Culkin is synonymous with Christmas. Having made his big break in the festive Home Alone movies - effectively becoming one of the most successful actors of the 1990s - he was made a household name at the mere age of 10.
Something not many of us will know, however, is that Macaulay Culkin legally changed his name several years ago via a poll on his website Bunny Ears.
Yes, the now-42-year-old - whose full birth name is Macaulay Carson Culkin - chose to elicit some laughter out of his fans by writing on his website in 2021 that it was time to change his name.
"I assume you are up to speed on my middle name conundrum. Just in case you aren't, let's sum it up real quick: My middle name is something dumb. Larry? Orange? Honestly, I can't even remember it. So I asked you all to send in some better options so I can go down to the court house and explain to a judge why I need to change my middle name to something cool," Culkin wrote.
"You sent in hundreds of suggestions and after going through them all, these were my favorite five," he added, listing his top picks as Macaulay Culkin, Shark Week, Kieran (the name of his younger actor brother), TheMcRibIsBack, and Publicity Stunt.
"This poll is open till Christmas Eve so I can wake up to a wonderful present from everyone. Sure, I might have gold-plated watercraft, and chrome plated invisibility cloaks, but all I want for Christmas is a new middle name. And then you can be all 'Oh, you got your wife a beautiful portrait of your family? Well, I chose Macaulay Culkin's Middle Name.' And they will cry and cry," Culkin continued.
"Don't be the kind of person who cries on Christmas. Be the kind of person that chooses my new middle name," the post concluded.
Well, as it turns out, after 10,000 votes the winner of the poll was Macaulay Culkin, effectively turning Culkin's name to Macaulay Macaulay Culkin Culkin, per It's Gone Viral.
This year, as many of us are sat at home watching Home Alone and Home Alone 2, Twitter is a flurry of excitement as users react to his name.
"We're watching Home Alone 2 and I just remembered that Macaulay Culkin changed his name to Macaulay Macaulay Culkin Culkin. Magic," one person tweeted.
"#1 on list of greatest Christmas truths is that God became man and came and dwelt with us. Also on the list - though further down - is that Macaulay Culkin's legal middle name is 'Macaulay Culkin,'" another user added.
Someone else chimed in: "Little known fact: Macaulay Culkin's full legal name is Macaulay Macaulay Culkin Culkin after he allowed the internet to choose his middle name and they chose Macaulay Culkin [...] He stood by his word - LEGEND."
Well, at least it wasn't TheMcRibIsBack!