New host of the "Late Show" Stephen Colbert pronounces his last name like many French words — "Cole-bear," with a silent "t" on the end.

Surprisingly, though, his father didn't. Up until Stephen, the Colbert family, of both Irish or French nationality, said "Cole-bert."

In an interview with Charlie Rose, Colbert explained that he always wanted to make the change, and a conversation with an astronaut finally gave him the courage.

While flying to Northwestern University in Illinois, where he studied theater, Colbert already had the idea in his head. "I didn't know Chicago. Nobody knew me there. And I thought, 'Well, if I'm ever gonna do it, it's gonna be now,'" he told Rose.

That day, the airline bumped Colbert up to first class, where he ended up sitting next to an astronaut. Colbert thinks the astronaut's name was Corley, and he asked the man's opinion, still unsure whether to adopt the hard or soft "t."

"He goes, 'Well, I think you know,'" Colbert relayed, smiling widely.

Colbert's father always wanted to switch, too. But he "lacked the pretentious gene that I have said," Colbert said.

Watch the clip below, and see the full interview here.