United Kingdom, April 8 -- Sterling K. Brown uses his name as a tribute to his late grandfather.

The 49-year-old actor went by his middle name of Kelby until he was in his late teens, but explained that because by that point, he had been without his grandfather for six years, he adopted the moniker he uses now to remember him by.

Speaking on 'The Kelly Clarkson Show', he said: "I went by my middle name, I went by Kelby til i was 16 years old. My dad's Sterling Brown Jr. My grandfather Sterling Brown Sr. I'm Sterling Kelby Brown.

"I wanted my own name, and it felt like Sterling was like an old man's name.

"But because he passed away when I was 10, by the time I turned 16 and I hadn't heard his name for five-and-a-half years, I was like...