Pamela Anderson is considering a meaningful transformation—one that goes far deeper than a new hairstyle or public image. The 58-year-old star has shared that she hopes to legally adopt her family’s original Finnish surname, Hyytiäinen, as a tribute to her heritage and to the grandfather who shaped her life.
Speaking with Vogue Scandinavia, Anderson explained that she often feels disconnected from the Hollywood persona attached to her current name. “There are moments when I don’t want to be Pamela Anderson,” she said. “Sometimes I imagine being Pamela Hyytiäinen instead. I’d love to make the change, but it’s more complicated than people think.”
Her grandfather Herman, whose last name was changed to Anderson when his family immigrated to Canada from Finland, was a logger, a poet, and one of the most influential figures in her childhood. Anderson credits him with nurturing her creativity and teaching her to see the world with imagination and tenderness—qualities that later shaped her career as an actor, model, and author.
Reflecting on her journey, she added that she has “tried on many versions” of herself over the years, peeling back layers again and again to rediscover who she truly is.
The desire to reconnect with her roots inspired a family trip to Finland in 2007 with her father. Anderson still dreams of returning, this time with her adult sons Brandon, 29, and Dylan, 27. “I want to stand on my grandfather’s land again, to understand more about where I come from,” she said. “Maybe one day we’ll all go back—and maybe I’ll finally take back my real name.”
She also remembered how her grandfather taught her Finnish when she was young, a language she sadly stopped learning after his death when she was 11. Calling him “the closest person to me in my life,” she said a piece of her identity disappeared with him.
Even so, Anderson remains deeply proud of her Finnish roots—a pride she carried long before she understood its full meaning.
