On “The Jennifer Hudson Show,” Reba McEntire explained how she ended up getting a deep-fried nickname from Rex Linn.

After she, Linn, and the rest of their little entourage finished dinner during their January 2020 outing, the group decided to head to a nearby wine bar that also served food.

They let their server know that they’d already eaten, but the enterprising individual tried to tempt them with the appetizer menu. As soon as McEntire learned that tater tots were one of the offerings, she decided that she could use a little post-supper snack.

Linn apparently found her enthusiasm for the fried cylinders of grated spuds greatly amusing. “Rex said, ‘That’s your nickname from here on out, Tater Tot,'” McEntire recalled.

Linn got his own pet name while everyone was practicing social distancing during the early weeks of the pandemic.

According to McEntire, it was actually her sister, Susie McEntire-Eaton, who came up with it.

The siblings were quarantining together, so McEntire-Eaton had a front-row seat to McEntire and Linn’s long-distance courtship. On TalkShopLive, McEntire recalled her sister’s reaction to learning her nickname. “Susie said, ‘Tater Tot? Well, why don’t you just call him Sugar Tot?’ And so it stuck. So, we’re the Tots.” McEntire also revealed that she loves taters tots so much that she and Linn went to Sonic for Valentine’s Day and dined on them.

So, when’s the fast food chain going to add sugar tots to the menu?

The pair, who went public with their relationship in October 2020, grew closer after Linn called to check on McEntire after her late mother grew ill.

“We’d gotten to see each other before because we’re both on ‘Young Sheldon.’ So starting in March of 2020, we just kept talking and visiting and finally got together, see each other in June. And we’ve been pretty much inseparable ever since,” said the singer.