The nickname "Spanky" is erroneously said to have arisen from warnings by his mother not to misbehave during one of the initial discussions with Hal Roach in his office. McFarland contradicted the tale, saying that the name was given by a Los Angeles newspaper reporter. The term "a spanky child" was late-19th- to early-20th-century slang for an intelligent, gifted toddler. Spanky was an example of such a child in his earliest movies—a toddler who could act—so the name had meaning to the movie-going audience of that era that was lost for later generations. Use of the "Spanky" name by McFarland for subsequent business or personal activities was expressly granted to McFarland in one of his studio contracts. In later years some family members would affectionately refer to him as "Spank".