Let’s make up a name, say “Oliver Wendell Holmes.”
He has a son, whom he names “Oliver Wendell Holmes, jr.”
Dad goes by “Ollie.” Son goes by “Wendell.”
Dad signs his name as Oliver W. Holmes.
Son signs his O. Wendell Holmes, jr.
Is there any point to the “jr” since they are not using the same signature names.
I realize it would be necessary if they were spelling out the entire name, but how about in the example above.
Also, is there any there any kind of standard of abandoning the “jr” tag, once the old guy is history? (I seem to recall having read something like this in “Abby” one time.)
My father was a jr. - he dropped it when his father died. My parents gave my brother a middle name to end the confusion.
I think my father used the jr. because it was useful. He and his father used the same formal name, “Oliver Wendall Homes,” and they both worked in the same field. Jr. served to distinguish them.
The “j” is pronounced as a consonant “y,” as is common in Germanic languages.
AFAIK, it’s simply an old Norse word for “miller,” and sometimes you’ll see it spelled “miollnir.”
But you’ll only see it spelled anywhere is something that has to deal with Norse mythology, specifically Thor. If you didn’t already know, it’s the name of Thor’s hammer.
You can use any form you want as,long as you use it consistently. Problem is that a lot of people aren’t consistent and create real problems for themselves. I’m a Jr., my father is Sr. and my son is a III. All the same full name. Every time one of us applies for credit and doesn’t use the suffix (and often when we do) we end up getting each others credit histories reported.
It can be a real problem in real estate ownership. I once searched the title to a property that was acquired by John Smith (I don’t remember the actual name) in 1939. John Smith died in 1940. In 1942 John Smith signed a deed conveying the property. All of the documents in the record used the same address. Come to find out that it was Jr. who bought, Sr. who died and Jr. who sold but we had to track down an heir and get an affidavit to clear up the record.