Will Smith Considers Name Change After Discovering Welsh Roots in Surprising Family Revelation

The actor and musician contemplated a rebrand after learning his hometown is named after a Welsh physician

Will Smith on Feb. 2, 2025. 

Will Smith is celebrating his surprising connections to Wales — and contemplating changing his name to reflect his roots.

Smith, 56, appeared on BBC Radio Wales on Saturday, July 12, to promote his upcoming United Kindgom tour dates in support of his new album Based on a True Story.

During the conversation, BBC Radio’s Lucy Owen revealed a number of Welsh connections to Smith’s home state Pennsylvania: In particular, his hometown of Wynnefield, Pa., is named after a Welsh physician, Dr. Thomas Wynne.

“So I’m Welsh! I’m Welsh, basically. That’s what we’re saying,” Smith said with a laugh.

“Yes, Will! This is what I’m trying to say.

You are Welsh, and we are claiming you,” Owen responded.

Smith cleverly noted that he could change his name to reflect his hometown’s connection to Wales.

“That might be my new name: Welsh Smith,” he jested. “I’m gonna be Welsh Smith.”

The radio host also noted that the Pennsylvania town where Smith’s mother Caroline Bright resides, Bryn Mawr, is also a Welsh term that translates to “big hill.”.

“So ‘Mawr’ is ‘big,’ and ‘Bryn’ means ‘hill.’ You live in Big Hill,” she said.

“Big Hill! Big Will lives in Big Hill. This is crazy!” Smith responded. “Big hill. Big Will. Big still.” .

Will Smith on Feb. 20, 2025.

Smith has been touring his album Based on a True Story — his first studio album release since 2005’s Lost and Found — around the world since June 25, when the tour kicked off in Rabat, Morocco.

The musician and actor arrives in the U.K. for five shows between Aug. 24 and Aug. 30 before he wraps up the tour in Paris.

He’ll play Wales’ capital Cardiff on Aug. 25.

U.K.-based connections for Smith did not end at the names of his hometown and mother’s town in Pennsylvania.

As the actor and rapper said on the radio show, he and DJ Jazzy Jeff recorded some of the music for their first album in the U.K.

Will Smith on July 13, 2025.

“A lot of people don’t realize Jazzy Jeff and Fresh Prince were actually born in the U.K. Our music, first album, our record label was Jive Records in the states, but Jamba was based in the U.K., so we came and all of our early music was recorded in the U.K,” Smith said.

“It feels like a bit of a homecoming for us.”.

Smith has been focusing on his music instead of his film career in the months since Based on a True Story released in March.

He last appeared on the big screen in 2024’s Bad Boys: Ride or Die and has a number of movies in the works, including a sequel to 2007’s I Am Legend that will costar Michael B. Jordan.