In one of the most hilariously bizarre news stories of the year – just sneaking in under the bar before 2018 ends! – actor Macaulay Culkin has vowed to change his middle name following an online poll. To ‘Macaulay Culkin’.

Yes, that’s right.

The former Home Alone star will henceforth be known as Macaulay Macaulay Culkin Culkin, after he ran a poll to determine what his new middle name should be after he decided to drop his existing one, Carson. He has pledged to officially change his name via deed poll in the new year.

“Merry Christmas to me, from all of you! My new middle name has been chosen. You voted and the winner is clear,” Culkin tweeted to his followers on Christmas Day. “In 2019 my new legal name will be: Macaulay Macaulay Culkin Culkin. It has a nice ring to it (if you like my name)”.

Macauley CulkinMacauley Culkin has vowed to change his middle name

The results came from a request for ideas from his fans on Twitter, and beat out several other brilliant contenders. Those included names like ‘Shark Week’, ‘The McRib is Back’, and ‘Publicity Stunt’, but over 60,000 people voted for him to double up his actual name.

A rather sweet campaign to get 38 year old Culkin to change his middle name to that of his younger brother’s, Kieran, also missed out.

More: Macaulay Culkin points out one major plot hole in ‘Home Alone’

“My middle name is something dumb. Larry? Orange? Honestly, I can’t even remember it,” Culkin had told his followers in November, setting up the poll. “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.”

Since his huge success as a child actor in the Nineties, following his involvement in three of the Home Alone movies, Culkin has occasionally re-surfaced in the news due to various strange behaviours.

Of course, many will remember his short-lived and highly ridiculous rock band, a Velvet Underground tribute act titled The Pizza Underground and which changed all that band’s lyrics to ones about the Italian foodstuff.

More: Macaulay Culkin opens up about “mental and physical” abuse from his father