Seems like it could, but I’ve never heard of it. Picture it: John & Mary Farnsworth have a son named John & daughter named Mary. To avoid confusion, we call him little John Jr. But what about little Mary Jr.? “Junior” has a masculine ring to it and doesn’t sound right attached to a girl’s name (or is that just my male chauvinism getting in the way?)
And what about when Mary Jr. grows up, can she call herself Mary Farnsworth III (assuming that Grandma was also named Mary) without getting strange looks? And would mommy be called Mary Senior? Lady and Madame could be used to distinguish the grown-up Mary but those sound hopelessly outdated.
You bet it can be used for females. Here’s a precedent: Nancy Sinatra, Jr.!
Now, if some parents decided to make their newborn daughter a “Junior,” they better be prepared for some funny looks. It’s just not the norm now. It may be the norm someday; in fact, I’d bet it does, since naming conventions are less stringent now than they were in the past.
So it sounds goofy, but that’s only because we’re used to it being used for males. Nothing wrong with it being used for females, but if you’re gonna make your kid have that kind of moniker attachment, you better be prepared for the consequences.
Dorothy Fuldheim was a well-known Cleveland TV journalist from the days when that was not an oxymoron. Her daughter was known publicly as Dorothy Fuldheim Jr.
“Junior” isn’t really part of a person’s name. It’s a term used to distinguish children with the same name as their parents from their parents. Therefore, John Farnsworth, Jr.'s legal name would be John Farnsworth, and the “Jr.” is only used to distinguish him from his dad. Once his dad dies, he is supposed to drop it and just become “John Farnsworth.”
“Senior” is only used to distinguish the first John Farnsworth’s widow, “Mrs. John Farnsworth, Sr.” from his son’s wife, who became “Mrs. John Farnsworth” (dropped the “Jr.”) when her father-in-law died.
I would guess that women do not use “junior” much because, traditionally, their last names are simply “borrowed” anyway. (And, for social purposes in the old days (see above), their first names didn’t count for much, either.) For example, if Mrs. Mary Farnsworth names her daughter Mary, it might be a little confusing as little Mary grows up, but once little Mary does grow up, she’ll marry, become “Mrs. Mary Jones”, and thus will distinguish her name from her mother’s in her adult life. Even if Mary Jones decides to name her daughter Mary, that Mary couldn’t become Mary Farnsworth III–she’d be, of course, Mary Jones, “Jr.” until she grows up and gets a new last name.
Women don’t seem to name their daughters after themselves, from what I’ve seen, anyway. Perhaps they will as women’s names take on a new sense of permanence in the future. And, perhaps “junior” will be used to distinguish mother from daughter the way it now distinguishes father from son.