First appearing in season five, Erin Hannon, played by Ellie Kemper, quickly became the love interest of The Office. She befriended Kelly, dated Andy, and took her role as receptionist far more seriously than Pam ever did.
A bright spot in an otherwise cynical office, Erin was a truly welcome addition to the show and as Andy, played by Ed Helms, said, “You are the nicest person I have ever met.”
Love her or hate her, Erin really made a name for herself in the workplace and soon became as well known as Michael, Dwight, and Pam themselves.
However, her real name wasn’t Erin, but Kelly. And they even told us that.
How have we forgotten?!
Why Erin from The Office didn’t use her real name
According to NBC, audiences originally got to know her as “Kelly,” her actual first name. But every time new boss Charles Miner (Idris Elba) called for her, Kelly Kapoor (Mindy Kaling) would run into his office and say, “Yeah, you wanted me?” So he decided they had to differentiate between the two Kellys.
Erin then very kindly offered to use her middle name instead and continued to do so for the rest of the series.
I mean, would you try to compete with Kelly Kapoor? I definitely wouldn’t.
And as ScreenRant put it, it turned out for the best: “The closest thing Erin had to a real friend on The Office was definitely Kelly. Some of their friendship developed in online web videos like ‘Subtle Sexuality,’ but they were also shown hanging out together during the show.”
Even though their relationship wasn’t perfect and Erin was often naive to Kelly’s manipulative behavior, they were an iconic duo and giving up Erin’s real name was a small price to pay.
“The US Office” can be streamed on Netflix.
