Pamela Anderson has revealed her wish to change her name because she wants to embrace her family's little-known Finnish heritage

The Baywatch star, 58, spoke about her close relationship with her beloved grandfather Herman Hyytiäine, a native of Finland, in an interview with Vogue Scandinavia this month. 

Revealing she is interested in formally changing her last name to Hyytiäinen, she tld the publication that her grandfather was 'the closest person to her in her life.'

She said: 'Sometimes I don't want to be Pamela Anderson. I want to be Pamela Hyytiäinen. I would like to change my name, but they won’t let me.'

Vogue Scandinavia reported that Pamela's family used the surname Hyytiäinen before they arrived in Canada.

Upon arrival, they changed it to a more North American-sounding Anderson. 

Pamela said her grandfather Herman, taught her Finnish when she was growing up and she thought it was 'a magical language that no one else could understand.'

Sadly the language left with Herman, she said - and he sadly passed away when she was just 11 years old. 

Pamela - who has been embracing a make-up free look while out and about, recently spoke to Better Homes & Gardens while promoting her cookbook I Love You: Recipes from the Heart in August 2024.

Discussing the public persona she had in the 1990s, she said, 'People have this pneumatic kind of image of me from Playboy to Baywatch, to my rock 'n' roll type of husbands, to everything else.

'And as much as I threw every dinner party and cooked all those meals for family and my kids, it wasn't what was seen publicly.'

On the other hand, she added, 'But I also played into the image that was created around me. I'm glad I did all that, but I'm really glad I'm where I am now.'