# Jr., III, etc. -- would you keep it going with your kid? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 7, 2006, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jr-iii-etc-would-you-keep-it-going-with-your-kid/351785 "2006-04-07T22:24:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Doom\_Slinger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9d8465/32.png) [@Doom\_Slinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doom_Slinger)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2006, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jr-iii-etc-would-you-keep-it-going-with-your-kid/351785/1 "2006-04-07T22:24:40Z")
I am a “Junior.” That is, my RL name is the same as my dad’s, only with a “Jr.” appended. When I was little, I thought it was really cool, and couldn’t wait to have a son on to whom I could pass the name (only with a “III” on the end, of course). Then he would have a son who would be “IV” and so on up into the Roman numerals with Xs and Ls and Cs. Hell, maybe even an M. I’ve gotten less enthusiastic about the idea as I get older and closer to actually procreating. There are a few reasons why the idea doesn’t appeal to me as much anymore: [ul] [li]What to call the kid? I know from first-hand experience how not fun it is to have two men with the same name in the same household, so I couldn’t call my kid by the same name I use. I don’t particularly like my middle name or its diminutive forms, either, so that’s right out. And calling the little booger “Trey” or “Trip” just seems a little too precious.[/li][li]It just doesn’t seem right to me to make the kid share a name. I personally think it’s an honor to have my dad’s name, but at the same time I do kind of wish I’d at least had a choice. [/li][/ul] So, I’m curious. Are you pro- or anti-Junior? If you’re a Junior, III, etc. do you plan to increment the name in the next generation? ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2006, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jr-iii-etc-would-you-keep-it-going-with-your-kid/351785/2 "2006-04-07T22:38:39Z")
[QUOTE=Doom Slinger] [li]What to call the kid? I know from first-hand experience how not fun it is to have two men with the same name in the same household, so I couldn’t call my kid by the same name I use. I don’t particularly like my middle name or its diminutive forms, either, so that’s right out. And calling the little booger “Trey” or “Trip” just seems a little too precious.[/li][/QUOTE] My dad’s boss was a III. We called him Eddie the Turd behind his back. ---
**Author:** ![Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4da419/32.png) [@Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gala_Matrix_Fire)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2006, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jr-iii-etc-would-you-keep-it-going-with-your-kid/351785/3 "2006-04-07T22:48:08Z")
I don’t like it a bit, but each to his own. If I somehow ended up married to a man who was a junior or had a numeral, I’d fight tooth and nail to name the boy something else. If I were a man and my name were the same as my father’s, I would just go by the name and correct any attempts to append “junior” or a numeral. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2006, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jr-iii-etc-would-you-keep-it-going-with-your-kid/351785/4 "2006-04-07T22:51:59Z")
My grandfather, father and I have the same first and last names, but different middle names, so we’re technically not I, II and III. However, when Mrs. Kunilou and I were talking about having kids, I mentioned the idea of giving our son my first name, and yet another middle name. She rejected the idea, cold, dead on arrival, not a snowball’s chance in hell, etc. ---
**Author:** ![davenportavenger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5f8ce5/32.png) [@davenportavenger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davenportavenger)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2006, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jr-iii-etc-would-you-keep-it-going-with-your-kid/351785/5 "2006-04-07T22:57:21Z")
My dad’s side of the family has a tradition of giving the father’s first name to the son as a middle name. My dad and uncle have the same middle name for this reason. My parents weren’t able to continue it because they only had girls but I think it’s a nice tradition and would do it if I were going to have a son. But the same name? No, I wouldn’t do that, because I think it’s trying to too obviously make the son into a copy of his father. Names are an important part of someone’s identity and I wouldn’t want my son to feel like he had to follow in his father’s footsteps. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2006, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jr-iii-etc-would-you-keep-it-going-with-your-kid/351785/6 "2006-04-07T23:00:34Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > My grandfather, father and I have the same first and last names, but different middle names, so we’re technically not I, II and III. Same here. I would not name my (hypothetical) son to be a junior, but I wouldn’t mind sticking with the established tradition. (Depending, of course, on what my (hypothetical) wife had to say about it. 😛 ) ---
**Author:** ![Ins\_Outs\_What-have-yous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8797f3/32.png) [@Ins\_Outs\_What-have-yous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ins_Outs_What-have-yous)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2006, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jr-iii-etc-would-you-keep-it-going-with-your-kid/351785/7 "2006-04-07T23:01:12Z")
My name has a ‘IV’ at the end of it. My grandfather, father, and I have all had different nicknames so there is never any confusion within the family and rarely any confusion among others. I’m not aware that my great-grandfather had a nickname so I guess he always went by the real first name unless his eldest male descendents. As a single guy at age 23 about to graduate college, I’m not thinking about having kids any time in the near future. I’m not opposed to carrying on my full name, so the decision will weigh partly on how my future SO/wife feels. ArchitectChore, V: I suppose we could call him “Quint.” > [@Doom Slinger](#): > > What to call the kid? Have you considered using the first two initials? ---
**Author:** ![Ins\_Outs\_What-have-yous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8797f3/32.png) [@Ins\_Outs\_What-have-yous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ins_Outs_What-have-yous)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2006, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jr-iii-etc-would-you-keep-it-going-with-your-kid/351785/8 "2006-04-07T23:03:59Z")
> [@](#): > > unless his eldest male descendents _unlike_ his eldest male descendents :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2006, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jr-iii-etc-would-you-keep-it-going-with-your-kid/351785/9 "2006-04-07T23:08:48Z")
Geez, no. Might as well call the kid Mini-Me. He’s a different person; he ought to have a different name. That’s kind of the point of names, isn’t it? Plus, what kind of family dynamic does it set up when one of the kids is named after Dad and the others aren’t? Or should I go all George Foreman and just name all of them after me? ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2006, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jr-iii-etc-would-you-keep-it-going-with-your-kid/351785/10 "2006-04-07T23:15:31Z")
Current New York Mets outfielder Xavier Clifford Nady is the seventh interation in his line, the name taken by the first Nady to come to the New World. Xavier Clifford Nady VII. In a way I think it’s kinda cool. The broadcasters took the time to explain that his father goes by “Xavier” pronounced _Zavier_. The son goes by _Eks’avier_, prononcing the hard “X”. I’d be giddy with the expectation of his great grandson’s initials being X.C.N X. Someday it’ll be the coolest anagram ever, X.C.N CX. Not sure why it’s relavant, but I felt the need to share since this thread coincidentally popped up after me gaining that nugget of trivia last night. Personally, I don’t have any family members with that type of history but I think it’s something I’d like were it the case. Grass is always greener perhaps. ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2006, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jr-iii-etc-would-you-keep-it-going-with-your-kid/351785/11 "2006-04-07T23:16:37Z")
Grrr, make that **palindrome** , not anagram. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Goob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c77e96/32.png) [@Mr.Goob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Goob)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2006, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jr-iii-etc-would-you-keep-it-going-with-your-kid/351785/12 "2006-04-07T23:22:22Z")
My best friend’s family might as well be the Waltons. They grew up on the many generation farm and his Dad is one of 9 kids. All the kids get along great. The extended family is a slew of interlocking often repeated names between generations. If you don’t know the nicknames it can be very confusing talking about the comings and goings of everybody. My friend is a III, he loves it. He told his now wife on their second date that his first born son will be a IV. My Dad was a Jr and hated, loathed and despised it. Thus I have an original name. If I have a son I very much plan on giving him my Dad’s name. Partly because my Dad died a few years ago, but I like the continuity and felt this way before he died. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2006, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jr-iii-etc-would-you-keep-it-going-with-your-kid/351785/13 "2006-04-07T23:45:53Z")
My husband is a Jr., not the least because his father really did try to live vicariously through him, tried to mold him into a clone of him, etc. My husband resents the “uncreative” name and the other baggage that came along with it, not to mention numerous bank screwups (they’re at the same bank), hospital billing screwups, and so on. We don’t plan on having children, but if we did, he’d want some completely different name for a son. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2006, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jr-iii-etc-would-you-keep-it-going-with-your-kid/351785/14 "2006-04-08T00:13:50Z")
I broke the chain. My soon-to-be-ex-husband is a IV and really didn’t want to make my son a V. Both because I don’t really like the whole same-name thing, but also because it was just a kind of boring, common name, in my opinion. I also wouldn’t name my kid John or David for the same reason… far, far, far too common. Fortunately my husband didn’t really have any strong attachment to the tradition and didn’t mind. (the boyfriend before the one I married was a V already! And I think he probably would have wanted his kid to be a VI…) ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2006, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jr-iii-etc-would-you-keep-it-going-with-your-kid/351785/15 "2006-04-08T01:20:32Z")
I played high school basketball with a III named Lentor. I thought he was the only Lentor in the world until I found out there were two before him. Who knew? Pretty unique guy, I’m willing to bet he’s the only one quite like him. I think it would sound pretentious and very 1950s (to me) to name my son after myself. It sounds like he’s going to inherit a multi-national corporation I own. It sounds sexist, too, that men can be “good enough” to fluff their egos by having a little Junior running around while women are supposed to worry more about whether Daddy’s dinner is ready than about what the manly manly son, who’s going to go conquer the world and make some poor woman a slave just like his daddy did for his mommy, is named. It’s like only two people in the household get the privilege of being named John or whatever, and the contemptible, lazy woman, the worthless, unwanted daughters and the not-quite-as-macho other-sons destined to suck off the welfare system aren’t even worth the time. YMMV. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2006, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jr-iii-etc-would-you-keep-it-going-with-your-kid/351785/16 "2006-04-08T02:55:13Z")
I’m the fourth Richard in a row. Our first son will be named Richard, too. But that said, we’ve never gone by “Junior” or “IV” or any of that. Just here’s one Richard and here’s the other. Maybe he’ll go by a difference diminutive (I, obviously, am Rick) or whatever. Or use his middle name. But I like the naming convention and so does my wife so we’re sticking to it. It’s cool. Also, “Richard” is a good name. ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2006, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jr-iii-etc-would-you-keep-it-going-with-your-kid/351785/17 "2006-04-08T03:41:21Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > Maybe he’ll go by a difference diminutive (I, obviously, am Rick) or whatever. Or use his middle name. Chard perhaps? ---
**Author:** ![Lorenzo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4da419/32.png) [@Lorenzo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lorenzo)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2006, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jr-iii-etc-would-you-keep-it-going-with-your-kid/351785/18 "2006-04-08T04:03:09Z")
I’m a II and wouldn’t do a III. It causes a lot of confusion when the phone rings, can cause credit report problems, even identity issues if you can believe that one. Let the kid have his own name. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Moto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2006, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jr-iii-etc-would-you-keep-it-going-with-your-kid/351785/19 "2006-04-08T04:16:18Z")
My son is the fourth in a row with our first name. Different middle names, though. It suits him, especially in the diminutive. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2006, 8:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jr-iii-etc-would-you-keep-it-going-with-your-kid/351785/20 "2006-04-08T08:15:25Z")
No. Please for the love of god no. This will cause endless problems for him in his later life. One dude I know had the Government assume he was dead when his father passed away. ☹ Identity theft. Credit problems. Sure, give him your first name- **OR** your middle name. But not both. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jr-iii-etc-would-you-keep-it-going-with-your-kid/351785.md?page=2)