Pamela Anderson changes name to honor Finnish roots

The Canadian-American actress-model and activist Pamela Anderson changed her name to “Pamela Hyytiäinen”. She shared her desire to change her name to honour her family’s Finnish roots.

The actress told Vogue Scandinavia in the interview to Vogue Scandinavia on December 2, “I want to be Pamela Hyytiäinen. I would like to change my name, but they won’t let me”.

Whilst reflecting on her family history, she revealed that her grandfather, Herman Hyytiäinen, changed his family’s last name to Anderson when they moved to Canada in an effort to more easily assimilate.

When she was growing up, her grandfather was “the closest person” to her in her life, she explained, and he even taught her Finnish, though her fluency in her family’s native language “kind of left with him” when he died when she was around 11.

Still, Herman passed along his wondrous spirit and belief in folklore to Pamela, who says she’s been exploring different identities in recent years.