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Macaulay Culkin has a new middle name, picked by the internet

Say hello to Macaulay Macaulay Culkin Culkin.

Leslie Katz Former Culture Editor
Leslie Katz led a team that explored the intersection of tech and culture, plus all manner of awe-inspiring science, from space to AI and archaeology. When she's not smithing words, she's probably playing online word games, tending to her garden or referring to herself in the third person.
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  • Third place film critic, 2021 LA Press Club National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Awards
Leslie Katz
2 min read
culkingoogle

Home Alone with a new middle name. 

Video screenshot by Amanda Kooser/CNET

Actor Macaulay Culkin is ditching "Carson" for a new middle name: Macaulay Culkin.

Too meta for you? Well, that's the kind of middle name you get when you ask the internet to pick it for you. 

In late November, the Home Alone actor asked the world to gift him a middle name for Christmas because "my middle name is something dumb ... honestly, I can't even remember it," he shared on his website Bunny Ears

After receiving hundreds of suggestions, he narrowed the field to his top five: Macaulay Culkin, Shark Week, Kieran (his actor-brother's name), TheMcRibIsBack and Publicity Stunt.

The public had a month to vote via Bunny Ears, which Culkin describes as a lifestyle site that's "kind of like the Goop meets the Onion." More than 100,000 votes came in. 

"You voted and the winner is clear," the 38-year-old actor tweeted on Christmas. "In 2019, my new legal name will be Macaulay Macaulay Culkin Culkin. It has a nice ring to it (if you like my name.)" 

Culkin didn't immediately respond to a request for comment on whether he actually plans to head to the courthouse for an official name change. But as a guest on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon last month, he assured the host he would. 

Given the internet's record with crowdsourced names (we're looking at you unmanned submarine Boaty McBoatface), Culkin should probably just be happy his new middle name isn't Macaulay McMacaulayface. 'Cause that's just confusing. 

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