How many would name their child Jr., III, etc?

Question

It's in my family and I think it's ridiculous.... Sr, Jr, III, IV..... gimme a break!!! I could see the royal family but not the average joe... why do you think people do that???

Answer 1

I  don't see anything wrong with it.  Both of my grandfathers were Sr.  My dad is a Jr and my brother is a III.  I don't believe that people do it to give a false sense of nobility.  I think that the reason people do it is to give honor and respect to a great person in their family. Period.  And as Adair pointed out, the suffix is just a way to differentiate between them, especially when they are all alive.  I can think of no greater honor than to have a child named after you.

Answer 2

I guess they want to carry on the family name.  My oldest brother has my father's first name, but a different middle name, so he's not a junior.  However, everyone called him "Little Danny" and he hated that.  My two other brothers' sons are named for them, but again, different middles names...and it's the "Little" again.  My husband didn't want to name our son after him.

Answer 3

I think it is just a family tradition- some families take alot of pride in their name. Some fathers like to name their first born son after themselves...it's also just part of some traditions.

For example- I married a Jeff Jr. and his father (obviously) is Jeff Sr.  We are pregnant with a little boy- so his name is going to be Jeff III. Not completely my choice, but I knew about this marrying my husband.  My husbands family is very well known in our area and have a good name and reputation.

Answer 4

Gimmie a break!!!  I think you need to get over it and leave people alone.  The purpose of that is NOT to create a title or a sense of nobility or anything.  It is to differentiate for the purpose of legal records and so forth between several generations of males in the same family with the exact same name.  Without that, it can become a very confusing issue that can create a lot of headaches with regards to legal records, credit reports, etc.

Answer 5

I personally hate the idea, but I guess I can understand why people want to do it. But I love the idea of being able to choose the name of your child; it allows you to be creative and decide what you really love as a name.

I would never do this to a child, but my partner has said he wants his son to take his name. It's not going to happen though, and when I told him that, he didn't sound too bothered actually! I would be okay with using our names as their middle names though.

I suppose if your name was William James, and you wanted your son to be called William too, you could just change the middle name, and call him that as a nickname. That would be less confusing when you're calling one of them, and they both turn around ;)