Star Trek: Deep Space Nine took Morn’s name from an appropriate sitcom character.
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine traded in the exploration of The Original Series and the politics of The Next Generation and focused more on the concept of slice-of-life. A show that was designed to show you how a specific group lives. Deep Space Nine did that in spades. From Benjamin Sisko’s love of baseball, to how the O’Brien family lives on a space station so far from home and even the growing pains of youth. It did a great job connecting people to one another through shared experiences.
One of the ways they did that was by putting a bar into the show. Quark’s, the local watering hole, was a frequent place for the main characters to meet in the show and talk about various topics and plot points throughout the episodes.
One of the most notorious tertiary characters to ever pop up on the show and at Quark’s was Morn, the beloved alien who was in practically every episode that featured the bar. Morn was a known regular who, despite never having a line on the show, was someone who talked so much that even Quark couldn’t stomach another word.
And fittingly enough, the DS9 barfly that Morn was, was named after a beloved sitcom character who shared some of his penchants.
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine’s Morn was named after an iconic sitcom character
If you thought Morn would fit right in at a place where everyone would know his name, you’d be correct, because he was basically lifted from the cast of Cheers. According to the Star Trek: Encyclopedia, Morn was named after the famous 1980s sitcom character Norm, from the show Cheers.
Norm, played by George Wendt, would frequently come into the bar and be greeted by a chorus of people saying his name. Norm’s Star Trek counterpart, never got such fanfare, though they did give him his own episode in Deep Space Nine called “Who Mourns for Morn”, which was an episode where everyone believes Morn died, but in reality, just faked his death.