The Wild Backstory Behind Carson Daly's Crab Claw Pocket Knife Tattoo

From Good Housekeeping

With Adam Levine's recent departure from The Voice, Carson Daly may officially take over as the singing show's most heavily inked cast member next season. The Today anchor has a serious number of tattoos - even if you can't not them like you can Adam's.

"He's quick to show his, and I would if I looked like that," Carson recently said about the Maroon 5 frontman (and his impressive abs). But under his suits, Carson has accrued some pretty intense tattoo sleeves himself.

"I'm a family-first kind of guy, so everything on my body is really about my family," he told Today in 2014. Here's the backstory behind the 10 tattoos he has (that we know of!):

One-Eyed Jack

"This one I designed myself," Carson said on Feherty. "I'm very proud of this tattoo." (You can see a picture of it in the Golf Channel clip.)

It shows a Jack playing card pierced by a jack playing piece in honor of his son, Jack Daly. The design on his upper arm also includes his son's birthdate - March 15, 2009, which was the Ides of March. To get in even more symbolic imagery in, he included the Pisces symbol (his son's astrological sign), plus an American flag, a little Corvette logo for his dad, and an homage to Budweiser - "which is my beer of choice."

Leo the Lion

On his lower arm, Carson went with a lion with a rose in its mane. The flower honors both his daughter London Rose and his paternal grandmother, who was also named Rose. The lion is a nod to London Rose's birthday -August 20, 2014 - and her sign. Not only is it perfect for a Leo, but it also embodies a message Carson wants to pass on to his kids.

"I wanted a symbol of strength for my daughters," he said on Feherty. "I want them to be strong women, so I opted to put an image of the most courageous symbol of strength I could find."

Women Warrior

Carson's older daughter also gets her own astrological-themed tattoo. Etta Jones Daly was born on September 6, 2012, so he got a picture of a women warrior on his right forearm to represent Virgo.

"It looks like Wonder Woman kinda," he said on Feherty. There's also a small Statue of Liberty next to it.

Corvette Hood Ornament

For his first tattoo, Carson wanted to pay homage to his late father, James Daly (J.D.), who passed away when he was 5.

"He was a Corvette dealer and the tattoo is designed after a hood ornament of a 1977 Corvette that he left me," Carson told Today. "I actually have the car that it's designed for. I wanted a nice memento for my father without it being too somber."

Curly Sark

Carson also sadly lost his stepfather, so he choose a modified whisky logo as a fitting tribute.

"My dad drank Cutty Sark," he said in his Golf Channel interview. "I'm convinced he single handedly kept the company in business for 25 years." To make it more personal, he changed "Cutty" to his step-dad's nickname "Curly" and the slogan "Original Pops Whisky."

"Every bartender thinks that's the coolest tattoo they've ever seen," Carson added.

Jaden Patricia

Next to the Curly Sark logo, Carson has "Jaden Patricia" inked on his arm in cursive. This honors - you guessed it - more family members. Jaden is his sister's name and Patricia is his mother's name, and Jaden Patricia is his niece's name.

"I still owe Catherine, my other niece," he added. "She's next."

Green Beret

On his upper left arm, Carson has the Green Beret emblem in honor of his maternal grandfather. "He gave me, when he passed, his actual green beret that Kennedy gave him," Carson said in his Golf Channel interview. The Latin motto for the United States Army Special Forces - De oppresso liber - is traditionally translated as "To Free the Oppressed."

NYC

The red, white, and blue letters aren't a specific homage to any of Carson's family members, but they do have a meaningful backstory.

"This NYC one I got the day after September 11, here in New York." Carson told Today. "I went to work at MTV in Times Square and there was a bomb threat the next day, so we had to evacuate the building. As we were trying to figure out if we'd be on the air, I was kind of aimlessly walking around New York ... I went to my tattoo shop and sat there listening to music and ended up having him put that on me as a sign of pride for being a New Yorker."

456

On his calf, Carson has the logo of his former record label, 456. He got the name from a New York City street dice game. "We had a hip-hop label so it all made sense at the time," he said on Faherty.

The Crab Claw Pocket Knife

Even though Carson attributes very special meaning to most of his ink, this totally out-there tattoo has the craziest backstory of all.

Back when he was working as an MTV VJ on Total Request Live, Carson famously dated the actress Jennifer Love Hewitt and even went as far to get her name tattooed on his ankle - except they eventually broke up.

Later on when Carson was seeing Tara Reid, he wanted to get more tattoos, but she insisted he get his ex's name covered up before doing anything else. This time, Carson had learned his lesson.

"There was no way on God's green Earth I was going to write the word 'Tara' anywhere on my body," he said on Last Call. In a rush, he turned things over to his tattoo artist "Braino" and requested a quick fix.

"I asked him, 'Can you do something really fast on my ankle or my girl's going to kill me,'"Carson said on Faherty. "I had no idea what he's doing but I could feel him working ... 30 minutes later he goes 'We're done.' I look at it and I go, 'What is that?' He goes, 'That's a crab claw coming out of a pocket knife.' I went, 'Awesome. It'll work.'"

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