CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Dell Curry goes by a lot of names in his family.

His boys — Steph and Seth, who followed in his NBA footsteps — have long called him “Pops.” His daughter, social media influencer Sydel Curry-Lee, calls him “Dad.” His 10 grandchildren have labeled him “G Daddy.”

But in our recent conversation, in advance of Dell Curry getting his No. 30 jersey retired and raised to the rafters by the Charlotte Hornets on Thursday night, Steph Curry said the family’s primary nickname for Dell isn’t publicly well-known but is appropriate.

“We call him ‘The Originator,’ ” Steph said of Dell. “Because all of this — all of us and our basketball family tree? It originated with him. One of our friends gave him that nickname on a golf trip about a decade ago. And so now we run with it.”

I had separate one-on-one phone interviews with all three of Dell’s children over the past two weeks for The Charlotte Observer and came away understanding more about the 61-year-old Dell Curry — whom I’ve known for 30-plus years — than I ever did before. If you want to know something about somebody, just ask their kids, right?

In the interest of you hearing more from Steph, Seth and Sydel and less from me, what follows is an edited and condensed Q and A with Dell’s three children, all of whom are grown up and married.

All three Curry children are expected to be at their father’s Thursday night halftime ceremony in Charlotte (it’s an off day for Steph and Seth, who are flying in for the day while in the middle of an East Coast road trip with their Golden State Warriors).

One more note: Seth and Sydel have both moved their families to Charlotte, with Seth’s house only about two minutes away from Dell’s house and Sydel’s house about 20 minutes away. Steph, his wife and their four children live in California.

‘A country boy from Virginia’ in the rafters

— Q: What will Thursday night mean to your father?

— Seth: Everything. It’s 30-plus years, all wrapped up in a single night. He dedicated his life professionally to the Hornets organization and the city of Charlotte. It’s rare for anybody to be synonymous with an organization. He’s one of those people.

— Steph: I know how much it means, just based on how hard I’ve tried over the past to recruit him to the West Coast. I think there was once upon a time that there was a vacant color commentating seat with the Warriors, and there was talk he might be interested in it.

But at the end of the day, the pull of Charlotte being home, and just how much the city means to him? It’s just a reflection of his time with the Hornets and the fact that a country boy from Virginia who ended up making Charlotte home is now going into the rafters.

— Q: Do you think your dad will cry during his halftime speech?

— Seth: It will be emotional for sure, with most of his family in the house and some old teammates in the house.

— Steph: He’s not a crier. But if there’s ever a moment, this is it. If there’s a prop bet on it, I’ll be taking the ‘Yes.’ This is his life, you know, both on and off the court, in one night. So I’m betting on it.

Dell Curry when he was bald

— Q: Tell me about some of your signature childhood memories with Dell.

— Sydel: I probably got a different type of parenting style for my dad than my brothers did. I’m the only girl. He was just a super cool dad, the same way he is now. ... Chill. Had a story for every situation. He didn’t give me much grief about anything. I got away with a lot of stuff with my dad. Not with my mom (Sonya Curry, an educator and entrepreneur, is the mother to all three Curry children). I was a daddy’s girl. He couldn’t do any wrong in my eyes.

But there’s one exception, and I remember it vividly. One day he came home with a shaved head. For some reason, he and a lot of his teammates had shaved their heads. So he came home from a road trip and turned the corner to come into our kitchen, where we all were.

I just see this tall man with a bald head, and I screamed and ran the other way. I couldn’t have been older than 5. I was so scared. (Laughs) He loves that story now — he thinks it’s so funny. And I’m like, ‘Why? Because you traumatized your daughter?’

But I loved my childhood. That’s why we (Sydel and her husband, former NBA player Damion Lee) have moved back to Charlotte. I want to give our three kids the same kind of childhood I had.

— Steph: We used to love weekends when we didn’t have school and the Hornets had practice. Me and Seth would fight for who got to sit in the front seat.

Pops would drive us out there to the practice. We’d get shots up, run around, all that. We loved the games, too, in the old Charlotte Coliseum. There was this amazing staff, always looking out for us. And we were just two annoying little kids. The Hornets were a new franchise, and such a big family.

— Seth: In the 1990s, the league was a little different, too. We would be all over the place. In the hallways running. In the locker rooms. We had freedom all over the coliseum. He tried to balance being a player and a parent. Somehow, it worked.

‘Happy and at peace’

— Q: What advice did Dell give you that you still remember?

— Seth: Find a role and it can take you a long way in this league. I mean he was a career sixth man, and yet he’s getting his jersey retired. You have to run your own race.

He told me that everybody’s not gonna be a star. But you can make a mark on a franchise and have a great career by being one of the greatest at what you do, on and off the floor. He threw himself into the community from Day One, having his foundation, his high school basketball tournaments — without being who he was in the community, I don’t think this honor would have happened.

— Q: Your dad and mom got divorced, and then your dad got remarried not long ago. Two of his three children have moved back to Charlotte. The Hornets are actually good again. After a long dry spell, your father is calling games for a team that is in the playoff chase. What changes have you seen in him over the past several years?

— Seth: He’s in a great spot. I think he enjoys having us around and my sister there. Having more grandkids around. Because there was a time a few years ago when he was the only one in Charlotte, really. I was in Dallas. Steph was on the West Coast. So was my sister.

Now he has more family around. And he’s also been reinvigorated, I feel like, with the team’s new ownership and the new direction of the franchise as well. He believes in what they’re doing. That whole energy has lifted his spirits as well.

— Sydel: I think time heals a lot. He’s definitely just gone after what makes him happy, and that’s really all that we care about and want, for both of our parents.

— Steph: It’s kind of the seasons of life, right? The Hornets have had so many struggles. With him and (Hornets play-by-play TV announcer) Eric Collins, if you didn’t know the Hornets’ record, you’d probably think they’re the best team in the league, just because of their energy, right?

But now there actually is life around the team. And with him, it’s a good time in his life in general. Six grandkids in Charlotte, and he sees our four kids pretty often, too. He just seems happy, and at peace.

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