Why Elsa Pataky didn’t become a ‘Hemsworth’ after marrying Chris

She married Hollywood star Chris Hemsworth in 2010 after a whirlwind romance of less than a year.

But Elsa Pataky has kept her unique surname and doesn’t go by ‘Elsa Hemsworth’.

This fact was noted by KIIS FM radio hosts Jackie ‘O’ Henderson and Kyle Sandilands while discussing the famous couple on Thursday.

‘Why didn’t she change her name to Elsa Hemsworth?’ asked Jackie ‘O’ Henderson, who was dumbfounded by the actress’ decision.

Jackie said she would be ‘going straight to the RTA’ (Australia’s version of the DMV) to update her driver’s licence if she married a Hemsworth.

There is no definitive explanation for why Elsa hasn’t taken her husband’s surname, and it may simply be a matter of personal preference. 

However, the mother-of-three did shed some light on her possible reasons for keeping her own surname during an interview with Herald Sun in June last year.

Elsa, 43, was actually born Elsa Lafuente Medianu, adhering to the Spanish tradition of taking her parents’ surnames as one name.

‘That’s my Spanish name. We actually have two surnames as one, which is weird – your mum’s and your dad’s,’ she said. 

As her acting and modelling career started to take off in Spain, Elsa adopted the professional surname Pataky in honour of her grandmother Rosa Pataky. 

She added: ‘My grandfather was a theatre actor and I admired him so I started to act as well. I thought, “You have to have something that really sounds different.”

‘My grandma’s surname in Spanish was a little different, so I took it from her and I love it. Pataky – it’s actually Hungarian but everybody think it’s Greek.’ 

It is not known if Elsa has legally changed her surname to Hemsworth.

Elsa and Chris, 36, moved to Byron Bay – a bohemian town on Australia’s east coast – in 2014, after spending several years living in Los Angeles.

The live in a $20million mansion with their three children, daughter India Rose, seven, and twin sons Tristan and Sasha, five.