the Name Tracy Theory from How I Met Your Mother
March 7, 2008
If you follow How I Met Your Mother, you may have heard a rumor that the writers have given us at least part of the name of Ted Mosby’s future bride. I even mentioned it in a recent post detailing what we can conclude so far about “the mother”. The video clip below is from Season 1’s Belly Full of Turkey. In this clip, a “burlesque entertainment artist” (otherwise known as a stripper) approaches Ted and says that she thought what he did was sweet… She says “I’m Amber”…then says “Actually, I’m Tracy”… then future Ted’s (Bob Saget) voice pops in and says “And that kids is the true story of how I met your mother.” He then says “Just kidding” however the kids are shocked. The fact they reacted like this lets you know there is some truth to the association of the name “Tracy” to their mother’s name. Otherwise the kids would not react that way because they would know the name makes no sense there. Watch for yourselves. Thoughts are welcome.
Also, on an end note…There is still a lot of mystery to who the mother is. I constantly read posts and comments trying to pry deeper into the mother character. The speculation of ideas like this are fun and it’s always great to hear what other think and read from different clues. The mystery surrounding the mother is a big reason people still love this show…That and the fact it is simply awesome and funny. Enjoy.
Posted in Television, how i met your mother
August 7th, 2008 at 8:01 am
[...] *Update: Here is some more info on the Tracy Theory. [...]
September 22nd, 2008 at 12:16 pm
[...] that she could be “the Mother”…you know my reason for disagreeing because of the name Tracy theory and the article on what we do know about the mother. Luckily for me (hooray), Sarah seemed to agree [...]
November 2nd, 2008 at 3:48 pm
i was shocked when i read this article
i thouhtg the same thing when i first watch the episode
i think mothers name is tracy too
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November 2nd, 2008 at 4:18 pm
Thanks ozden!
I appreciate your comment and glad that I could help to add confirmation to your theory… there are still doubters but they will come around.
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November 4th, 2008 at 9:56 am
It’s probably the best theory out, but I don’t think it’s necessarily the case – it’s also quite conceivable that their father saying that their mother /was a stripper/ might have been enough shock to make them not put together their mother’s name for a couple of seconds – Dad doesn’t give them time to think it over before correcting himself. It may be, though
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November 16th, 2008 at 5:26 pm
I wouldn’t pay too much attention to names because older Ted could fudge the names to keep his kids more interested in the story. And it’s not like he has been completely honest in the past–on Victoria’s last day in NYC, he tells his kids that they did all the touristy stuff. As he tells them they went to the MET and the Statue of Liberty, it shows clips of him and Victoria in bed all day.
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November 16th, 2008 at 9:46 pm
Dear Pistevo and AJ…
thanks for your comments. As I say…it is a theory… but as I have stated (in detail) the name is the most crucial part. If I were to say… “did you know your friend Tracy” is a stripper?”, then the you would view the comment (even though it was outrageous) as irrelevant. Why? Maybe you don’t have a friend Tracy? Maybe Tracy is a quadriplegic llama that you keep in your back yard… but either way you would have to associate the name with a person for the comment to be valid!
Then again..maybe the mother is a quadriplegic llama…
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February 3rd, 2009 at 7:53 am
Whats so special about Ted.
Barney is the Hero in every season and it will be more awesome to see him (hopefully) get robin.. a cigarsmoking competent confident superior sovereign masterpiece of a woman.
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March 6th, 2009 at 1:05 am
The most significant episode for determining the mother in my opinion is from season 3 episode 12 called, No Tomorrow. In this episode, Ted and Barney are at the bar for St. Patty’s day and it is revealed that the mother was at that bar on that night. In the bar he bumps into a girl who closely resembles the body type we saw from the girl holding the umbrella earlier in that episode which means that she could be the mother. Why else would they add that little “bump into part?” The fact that it was such a small aspect of the episode shows the sheer genius of this show. This is the best theory that I could think of and if this does not turn out to be the future mother, then it is one huge coincidence. Let me know what you guys think.
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March 6th, 2009 at 4:16 am
While telling the story, we can’t assume the detail future Ted goes into. For all we know he could have said: “So the stripper came up to me said that I was sweet ladeladela…that’s the true story of how I met your mother” but as a joke to his kids. It’s a good theory, but my guess would be that it was intended for a laugh, not as a clue!
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March 9th, 2009 at 4:46 pm
I don’t think the mothers name is Tracy. First of all, the girl was a stripper and strippers almost always use “fake” names. Second, the kids said “what” after Older Ted says “thats how I met your mother”, not after the stripper mentioned her name. I don’t think the creators would leave such a huge clue in the first season of the show.
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March 27th, 2009 at 11:57 pm
No – it can’t be someone called Tracy; that would be attaching a name to it too early and the writers couldn’t be that short-sighted.
The fact that the kids were so shocked was that they thought Older Ted was implying their REAL BIRTH MOTHER was a stripper named Tracy. For all we know the woman they know as their mother is an investment banker called Mildred. Or a stripper named Jenny. Who knows. But I’m guessing that’s what they thought at the time. Old Ted knows who the mother is – the kids thought (for a split second, until he said it was a joke) that this was his way of telling them who their birth mother was.
It’s not like the kids were witnesses at their own births. They look close enough in age to either be twins, or that one couldn’t remember being at the birth of their younger sibling. I’m 3 years older than my little brother, and I don’t bloody remember him being born.
But then, that’s just my theory of this theory. I really think the Tracy thing is a very well-done red herring.
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April 7th, 2009 at 12:14 am
pardon the cross post but i still want Ted to end up with Robin and i really do think that the son looks like ted jnr and the daughter looks like robin jnr…plus – robin has a lot more set up than just being uncle barney’s future wife…and yes you can now call me crazy
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April 7th, 2009 at 7:29 am
GinnyMae,
I wouldn’t call you crazy for that, I simply believe that given all the evidence and clues from the show there is not possible or feasible way that Robin is the mother.
Thanks for your visit and comments all. Great discussion.
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April 12th, 2009 at 5:57 pm
It’s not Tracy because what is said by characters isn’t told “as is” to his future children. Only the narration actually counts (like when he says “…and that was the true story of how I met your mother…just kidding”).
For example, in the first episode, Robin was mentioned by name many times but NOT in the narration. So you have to take everything that happens as being paraphrased by the father to his children. Only sentences said directly to the children can be taken litterally (and I don’t mean figuratively!).
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April 12th, 2009 at 9:05 pm
@Jean, actually if you watch the first episode, Robin’s name is never mentioned in the episode or the narration until the reveal at the end of it… it’s a common misconception. Thanks for your thoughts! It’s always fun to hear other views on the theory.
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May 7th, 2009 at 7:14 am
I’m in love with this theory and have seen evidence it is in fact true.
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May 10th, 2009 at 8:07 am
When you open the guest cast for the season’s 4 finale, there is a character named Tracey mentioned starred by C. S. Bennett. What a coincidence. ;o)
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May 24th, 2009 at 1:55 pm
in reference to the “no tomorrow” episode and the infamous bump….the lady he bumps into isnt wearing the same outfit as the lady holding the umbrella in line so im pretty sure the bump was just put into the show to throw people off and make them think “could that be her?”
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July 10th, 2009 at 9:46 am
it may tracy, but I think that the script writers will do a name game… such as ted fist meets someone named “blabla” !! and then it turns out that her real name is tracy… so… we’ll never gonna know the mother until the final
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August 19th, 2009 at 7:49 pm
This theory doesnt work! the reason the kids didn’t know girls like robin were the mother when he started telling stories because he CHANGED ALL THE NAMES!! How does no one remember that? They were shocked purely because he said, thats how i met your mother, not because they recognized the name, because it would have been a fake name too, duh.
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September 8th, 2009 at 9:17 pm
But Ted might have changed the name of “Amber” to Tracy to surprise the kids and say “And that kids is the true story of how I met your mother.” so he might have just switched names to say that. What do you think?
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October 16th, 2009 at 10:21 pm
i don’t even think the writers payed that much attention to the script. you guys have probobly put more thought into this than the people at himym. i think that in the last episode the mom will just be named something different.
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March 6th, 2010 at 6:35 am
ok i totally disagree with peoplewho think robin mght be the mother .there are no chances that robin could be the mother because in the episode no tomorrow ted and barney go to a club to celebrate st paddy’s day and the future ted says that “kids your mother was there at that party” at that moment robin and marshall and lilly go to view their new apartment so there is no way that robin could be at 2 places at thesame time.
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