I’m not exactly sure what you are asking - are you asking whether only some families use the suffix, or whether only some families give a child ( usually a son) the exact same name as a still living relative or something else.
There isn’t any social class or region that doesn’t use suffixes as far as I know - there may be a class/regional difference in whether Jr is only used when the whole name is identical or whether Junior is also used when the first and last name are identical and the middle is different whether a living man is ever called “Sr” , but everywhere.
If you mean why are suffixes more common in some groups rather than others, part of that is due to different naming traditions in different groups. For example, some groups do not name children after living relatives, which will eliminate/minimize suffixes. My own ethnic group has a tradition where the oldest son is named after the paternal grandfather, second son maternal grandfather, first daughter paternal grandmother, second daughter maternal grandmother. Possibly the third son or daughter could be named after the father - but that requires having three children of the same gender, which also minimizes the number of children named after. ( It also explains why I have so many cousins with the same name, since if Joseph has three sons ,each one will name their first son “Joseph”)
I’m not surprised by the naming of people after relatives - basically every first born up to my father seemed to be called William - it’s the suffix bit I find interesting. We don’t have anything similar here (aside from Monarchs, obviously, but that’s recording national history rather than family convention).
I would have associated it with the American South. This article suggest that that’s correct and seems to suggest that it may be the result of the Scots-Irish influence on “Southern” culture (although, I find the idea of “honor” and “nonhonor” states to be a bit puzzling).
Ok , let me see if I’ve got it straight- where you live , William John Lastname might name his son William John Lastname and no suffix is used - so how do you distinguish between the two of them in the sort of contexts where suffixes might be used in the US? Not so much with family/friends/neighbors, because that can be taken care of with Bill/Billy or “young Bill” - but official correspondence , especially if both live at the same address or work for the same employer.
Yes, anyone and everyone from any class or social group can and do do it in American society.
And, frankly, most institutions prefer it, like banks and schools and hospitals. They all want to be able to cleanly distinguish between relatives (fathers and sons, particularly, because that’s the most common and the most confusing).
Also, it is very common in American society for people to have two legal given names, that is a “first name” and a “middle name.” (More accurately, a “first given name” and a “second given name”) I understand that this is not necessarily true in other countries.
So if you have a father named
Arthur Brady Campbell and his son is Arthur Brady Campbell, then, yes, it’s common and normal for them to be referred to as Arthur Brady Campbell Sr. and Arthur Brady Campbell Jr. And even if they didn’t think of it, institutions are probably automatically going to start appending the suffixes, because, well, it just makes sense. Ona day-to-day basis, the names will customarily be shortened to Arthur B. Campbell Sr. and Arthur B. Campbell Jr. (Informally, the latter might become known as “Chip,” as in “chip off the old block.”)
And if Arthur Brady Campbell Jr. has a son with the same name, then it’s nearly automatic that that son will be referred to as Arthur Brady Campbell III on legal documents, although informatlly that person might use different names, maybe A. Brady Campbell III or A. B. “Trip” or “Trey” Campbell III or whatever.
However, if the names are not identical, then this numbering gets broken. If Arthur Brady Campbell’s son is Arthur David Campbell, then no suffixes will be used. They will be referred to as Arthur B. Campbell and Arthur D. Campbell. No, Sr. or Jr. And that’s why Americans don’t refer to George W. Bush as “George Bush Jr.,” because he’s not a “Junior”–his name is not identical to his father’s. If Arthur David Campbell then has a son called Arthur Brady Campbell, then it will be common for him to become Arthur Brady Campbell II (in this situation, he might be informally known as “Skip.”)
This is also a common situation–I had a neighbor and a schoolmate who was Arthur Brady Campbell Jr. At home, he was informally called “Brady” but at school, he was informally called “Arthur.” I knew him both at home and at school, so I sometimes called him one name and sometimes the other, depending on context. (… And, also, it was fashion at the time for young men to address each other by family name, so he might also commonly be addressed as “Campbell.”)
Miss Manners used to say that the suffixes only applied to living persons, and when someone died, all of the survivors moved up a suffix. So when Arthur Brady Campbell Sr. died, then his son would stop being Arthur Brady Campbell Jr., and become Arthur Brady Campbell Sr. Likewise, Arthur Brady Campbell III would become Arthur Brady Campbell Jr.
No one does it that way anymore (if they ever did), because of the immense confusion it would undoubtedly cause in all sorts of banking and other official records. Not to mention just among friends. Arthur Jr. has been “Junior” all his life; it would seem weird to everyone that he’s suddenly Arthur Sr. Like it or not, that “Junior” is effectively part of your name as far as the various official institutions that you will interact with throughout your life are concerned.
Even Miss Manners admitted that despite the “rule,” most sons continue to use Jr. even after their father dies.
It’s an honor to be named “junior”? I always though it was a little awkward for an adult man, or worse, a teen trying to forge his unique identity, to be called “junior”.
Anyway, my husband’s father was named something like John James Smith III. My husband has a completely different name. When I was pregnant we attended a big family reunion, and someone asked me and my husband, in the presence of his father, whether we would name the child John James Smith IV. My FIL replied, “over my fucking dead body!”
Our second child is was a son. His first name is not the same as the name of any relative.
I’m Canadian and I’ve never met anyone with a Jr, or a III. It’s always struck me as an American thing.
My grandfather and his older son had the same first name and lived in the same town all their lives, but the son was never a “Jr.”. People just knew from context which one was being referred to in conversation.
The way I always heard the rule was that no living man was “Sr.”
You’d have Arthur Brady Campbell and his son Arthur Brady Campbell Jr. When the older man died, the son dropped Jr and became simply Arthur Brady Campbell, period. (III would move up to Jr, etc.) Meanwhile, the widow became Mrs. Arthur Brady Campbell, Sr., to distinguish her from her daughter-in-law (because of course a married woman was always known as Mrs. Husband; Mrs. Elizabeth Campbell was divorced).
I’m not sure it crops up that much! I think people just muddle through. You might find ‘William John Surname Senior’ being used informally if, for example, they both work for the same company. I can’t think of a case where I’ve seen ‘Junior’ used.
With a bit of digging into an old local firm, I noticed that they did adopt II and III for sons and grandsons, but it really isn’t very common at all. I think, more frequently, people vary the middle names so it doesn’t happen often enough to be part of our vernacular.
When I was born, I was named G.E. racer72 Jr. 3 days later my father decided he didn’t want someone named after him, my name was changed to M.E. racer72. Different first, same middle name. 26 years later, my parents are divorced and my father has remarried. My father’s new wife has a son and his name is G.E. racer72 Jr. A few years ago my dad told me he wishes he would not have had my named changed. At the time I was working on a long career at a major US company. Jr. has a long police record and had just been sentenced to a year in jail.
That’s primarily why my father named me II, instead of Junior. He had observed that there’s a strong tendency to use “Junior” as a nickname, and he hated that.
