Tracy Morgan will be the first one to tell you that his name is a little unusual. In his 2009 autobiography, I Am the New Black, the Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins star wrote, “Tracy Morgan? That’s an Irish female’s name. With a name like that, I should have red hair, blue eyes, and big titties. I should be in a green bikini on a float every March.” But as he points out elsewhere in the book, there’s a pretty dark explanation as to how he ended up being called Tracy, and he didn’t find out about it himself until he was a teenager.

The origins of the name can be traced back to when Morgan’s father, Jimmy, served in the Vietnam War. The elder Morgan was drafted in 1965 and was a helicopter gunner for four or five tours. He made it home in one piece, but suffered from severe PTSD due to his experiences. Though Jimmy died when Morgan was just 19, he sat him down once when he was in high school to level with him about what he’d been through overseas. 

It was during that conversation that Morgan’s father revealed that he’d named him after one of the soldiers he’d known in the army. Jimmy went on to explain that he’d met an Irish guy named Tracy on the plane heading to Vietnam. Despite coming from different backgrounds, the two became very close on the flight, bonding over their shared fears and everything they were leaving behind. After just one day, Jimmy said he knew his new friend better than some of his own relatives.

Sadly, by the next day, Tracy was dead. Morgan’s namesake was blown to pieces after stepping on a landmine and was sent home in a body bag just as he’d anticipated. “That taught me everything I needed to know about the war,” Jimmy told his teenage son. “I never forgot that time I spent with him, because all that talking we did put me at ease. I figured that we’d be friends forever, but that’s how war is. And that’s how you got your name.”