Sterling K. Brown Reveals Why He Ditched His Birth Name—and Touching Reason He Reverted Back

Sterling K. Brown is known by more names than just Randall Pearson.

The This Is Us alum, whose full name is Sterling Kelby Brown, recently shared why he chose to forego his first name and went by his middle one until he was 16 years old.

“My dad’s name is Sterling Brown Jr., my grandfather is Sterling Brown Sr.,” the Emmy winner said during the April 5 episode of The Kelly Clarkson Show. “I wanted my own name and it felt like Sterling was an old man’s name.”

However, after going by Kelby throughout his childhood, the Paradise actor—who shares sons Andrew, 13, and Amaré, 9, with wife Ryan Michelle Bathé—had a change of heart as a teenager as a way to honor his father, who had died from a heart attack.

“Because he passed away when I was 10, by the time I turned 16 and I hadn’t heard his name for five, five-and-a-half years,” he continued. “I was like, ‘I kinda just want to hear that name again.’ So I asked people to call me Sterling.”

And his nickname is not the only way his dad’s death has greatly impacted his life. In fact, Sterling has been open about the memories he has of his dad, both the difficult and heartwarming ones.