Parks & Rec Revealed Jerry’s Real Name Earlier Than You Remember (& You Totally Missed It)

Parks & Recreation had many running gags that became quite memorable, among them the many names Jerry Gergich (Jim O’Heir) was given, but many viewers missed how the show revealed his real name earlier than most remember. Throughout seven seasons, the audience got to meet Leslie Knope (Amy Poehler) and her crew from the Pawnee Parks Department quite well, while also seeing their dynamics with each other change and grow stronger. Although Leslie was the lead character in Parks & Recreation, the series made sure to share the spotlight with her friends and coworkers, among them Jerry.

Jerry Gergich was the office manager of Pawnee’s Parks and Recreation Department at the beginning of Parks & Recreation, and unfortunately, he was also the most bullied employee at City Hall. Jerry was clumsy and had a long history of embarrassing incidents that only made his coworkers make fun of him more and more, but he was a good-hearted man who only cared about his coworkers’ happiness. One of the biggest running gags in Parks & Recreation was how everyone constantly changed Jerry’s name, and though his real one was eventually revealed, it actually happened a bit earlier.

Parks & Rec Subtly Revealed Jerry’s Real Name Through His ID

Because he was often overlooked by his colleagues and they hardly ever listened to him, Jerry didn’t really get a chance to correct them when they kept calling him by the wrong name. In addition to being called “Jerry”, he was called Lenny, Larry, and Terry at different points throughout Parks & Rec before he finally got his real name back: Garry. Jerry’s real name was revealed in Parks & Recreation season 4 episode “The Trial of Leslie Knope”, in which Leslie and Ben (Adam Scott) had to defend themselves after Chris Traeger (Rob Lowe) had to launch an investigation as they weren’t allowed to date at work.

Various witnesses were brought in, among them Jerry, who, at the end of the episode, admitted during the trial that his real name is Garry Gergich, to the surprise of Leslie, Chris, and the audience. However, his name was subtly and quickly revealed an episode earlier, in a blink-and-you-miss-it moment. In the episode “Smallest Park”, Tom Haverford (Aziz Ansari) was worried about his future as a mindless bureaucrat after the failure of Entertainment 720 and more, but when Jerry showed him his first ID card from 1977, he was inspired to pitch a redesign for the Parks Department.

When Jerry showed his card to Tom, his real name was fully visible, along with his job title (which was a mystery to viewers for a long, long time) and the date. This would be the first reveal of Jerry’s real name in Parks & Recreation, one episode before it was revealed to Leslie, Chris, and everyone else at the trial.

Why Parks & Rec’s Jerry Had So Many Names

Jerry being called many names except his real one was just one of many ways in which his coworkers messed with him daily and showed they didn’t really care about him and what he did. While the way they messed with Jerry had its funny moments, most of the time the pranks and bullying were taken too far, and Jerry was humiliated. How Jerry was treated in Parks & Recreation has been criticized by many, and even though the writers tried to make up for it by giving him the perfect family, that doesn’t justify all those times he was treated badly.

Luckily for Jerry, he was able to get his name back at Donna and Joe’s wedding, where his name card read “Garry” and everyone thought it was a mistake. April made fun of him and started calling him “Garry”, much to Jerry’s relief, as Donna set it up as a treat to her old friend.