Sam Neill Explains Why He Doesn't Use His 'Embarrassing' Birth Name: 'Best Decision I Ever Made'

Sam Neill said on 'The Kelly Clarkson Show' that he feels his birth name, Nigel Neill, proved "a disadvantage" growing up in New Zealand

Sam Neill is no fan of his birth name.

When the Jurassic Park star appeared on The Kelly Clarkson Show on April 30 to promote his Peacock miniseries Apples Never Fall, host Kelly Clarkson quickly noted that she just learned his real name is not Sam.

"That's embarrassing that you know that," Neill, 76, said. "I was christened Nigel Neill — that's like my parents giving me a disadvantage from the start."

When Clarkson, 42, expressed she feels the name Nigel Neill "is strong," the actor distinctly disagreed and said that he received some unfortunate childhood nicknames as a result of his birth name. "No, no, you never want to be called Nigel. It's also called 'Nigel No Mates,' you know, 'Nigel No Friends,' " he said.

Funnily enough, as Neill recounted to Clarkson, his best friend in school was also named Nigel.

"When I was 10, my best friend was called Nigel Nut and I was Nigel Neill," Neill said.

"Yeah, that was a disadvantage," Neill continued. "So, but we liked Westerns, and we thought, 'let's not just call ourselves Nigel, let's have nickname.' So I was called Sam and he was called Bill, and that was the best decision I ever made." 

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"There are no film actors called Nigel Neill. That's never going to happen, you know," he added.

Neill has always acted under his nickname Sam rather than as Nigel John Dermot Neill, his birth name. The actor was born in Northern Ireland in 1947 and subsequently grew up in New Zealand after his family moved there at age 7, according to The New Zealand Herald. As the outlet reported, Neill expressed his distaste for the name Nigel in his 2023 memoir Did I Ever Tell You This?.

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“The one thing I resent about my parents, the only thing, is that they called me Nigel. Changing my name to Sam at the age of 11 was probably the best decision I made in my life," he wrote in that book, per The New Zealand Herald.

Related: Sam Neill Says He’s 'Not Remotely Afraid' of Death amid Cancer Journey: 'It’s Out of My Control'

Back in 2009, Neill told another New Zealand outlet, the Otago Daily Times, that he stuck with the nickname as a kid because there were three more children named Nigel at school and he wanted to avoid being bullied.

"I encouraged the nickname because I thought I’d be slightly less likely to be victimised. I clung on to ‘Sam’ with great enthusiasm. Nigel was a little effete for the rigours of a New Zealand playground," Neill said.

Neill's series Apples Never Fall is streaming on Peacock now.

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