On naming children: what do you guys think about Jr's and III's?

[Robb]

So it turns out the fiancee and I are discussing kids. Our own, conceived and what-not. I know, next it'll be raining blood and locusts. :D

It also turns out I'm a "Junior." And, through that quirk, I could conceivably name yet another spawn after myself and DingDad.

What do you guys think about such things? Egomania? Lack of creativity? I sorta feel like it's a unique opportunity for someone to get to be "the third." Plus, I could call him "Trey," which would be fun. She's unconvinced.

Eh? :shrug:

[Richardo]

1. I'm named after my Dad's brother who was killed in the Army.

I like having the legacy attached to my name.

That said, if I were to name a child after someone in the family, it would not be myself. Probably a Grandparent or other ancestor.

[Shine]

2. Personally not my cup of tea

but I'm biased, I have an extremely unusual first name and have never met anybody with the same name. I like being unique and we gave each our two kids unique names, as well.

MrShine, however was named after his father and they both have very common first names.

We agreed when we got married that we would NEVER name our son after him. It's just not our thing.

:hi: Hey, to each, their own. It's ultimately up to YOU. Who cares what any of us peons think?

:D

[Kat45]

3. I find the moniker "Trey" to be annoying.

It doesn't sound like a person's name.

[jobycom]

6. Doesn't have to be Trey.

Could be Bubba.

I have the same first name as my dad, to prevent my being called Bubba or Junior, my parents created a nickname out of my first and middle names. Joe from Joseph, B from my middle initial, equals Joe B (as opposed to Dad--Joe T). They shortened it to Joby--a name I've stuck with, at least amongst friends.

[trof]

17. 'Trey' or 'Trip', a bit pretentious.

I had a friend who's name was Branch Bernard Burton, III.
We called him 'B-cubed'.

[jobycom]

4. First, congratulations! Sounds like a positive stage in your life.

Next, I don't think of it as egomania, I think of it as a tribute to your father, and your family. And it does seem a shame to let the tradition die, if you have a chance to carry it on. My father was a junior. I was almost a third, but my parents decided to give me my father's (and his father's) first name, and my mother's father's first name for my middle name. I'm proud of that. I would have carried on that tradition if I'd had sons. Instead, I had daughters and we came up with completely new names for them. I sometimes feel I cheated my mother and mother-in-law by not at least tossing them a middle name.

Just my thoughts. You're on your own, if the time comes. :)

[Radio_Lady]

5. We're Jewish, so I'm kind of biased. I think it's weird to name someone after a living person.

My stepson gave his son his first name. The second names are different. We've struggled with "Big Mike" and "Little Mike" for 18 years. Kind of stupid in my eyes. No nicknames ever stuck.

My stepdaughter married Martin W---- the Fourth.... While they might have thought about naming their son with another number at the end, they eventually called him William W----.

My Mormon son came up with a nice compromise. He has two sons, and he gave one of them his first name as a MIDDLE name, and the other son got his second name as a MIDDLE name. My daughter-in-law is out of luck in a way, but she's not too bent out of shape about it.

In all of these families, the father considers himself either Christian or agnostic, by the way.

My one Jewish grandson Solomon is named after his father's grandfather, who died while my daughter was pregnant.

In retrospect, I wish I had give my two children my maiden name as a middle name. Their legal names show no link to my family at all.

Whatever you do, enjoy the ride!

In peace,

Radio Lady

[Kat45]

7. My cousin was "Little Johnny" even when he became an adult with kids.

Then he named his son after himself, and the son became known as "John the third." I always found it weird.

[trof]

18. We had 'Bigs' and 'Littles' in my family.

My grandmother was 'Big Mildred' and my mother was 'Little Mildred'.

[FloridaJudy]

12. Same here

It's probably best not to name children after living relatives - too much temptation to name the little one after Uncle Xerxes, who's loaded.

Russian tradition has it that a child's middle name is his or her father's first name - hence Anastasia Alexandrovna Whaterever. We chose to use my maiden name as out son's middle name, though.

Spaniards use their mother's maiden names as their last names. Thus, a Spaniard's "real" family name is the middle one. Both Lorca and Picasso chose to use their mother's family names instead, since their middle names were rather commonplace and unmemorable.

[Radio_Lady]

42. FloridaJudy, thanks for this interesting information.

There are so many cultural and religious influences on us when we name our children.

I wish I had had the foresight to use my maiden name in my children's names, as I indicated before.

I think the names would have meant more to me and to my parents. As it was, there was no money after they passed away to give to either their daughter or their grandchildren, but I have used my father's name professionally in radio almost all my life. It just would have been great to refer to it when I speak about my children.

In peace,

Radio Lady Ellen in Oregon

[ZombieNixon]

8. Heh...one of my best friends is technically a XIV or XV

They avoided using the numerals by alternating middle names between "James" and "Boyd" each generation. :D

[Radio_Lady]

44. Wow! What culture/religion/background do these friends have?

Just curious... keeping it going for fourteen or fifteen generations.

Sounds a bit outrageous to me! But I'm sure stranger things have happened!

[ZombieNixon]

49. Irish. n/t

[Radio_Lady]

51. Is this an Irish tradition? I would have thought it was throughout the UK.

[ZombieNixon]

53. I don't know.

Maybe it's just something his family did. :shrug:

[Radio_Lady]

54. Could be....

Thanks for your comments.

[Richard Steele]

9. I'm against it. Although Dad is also "Richard Steele"...

...we have different middle names.

Probably because HIS dad was a "Junior", and
an Army SNAFU had him spending WWII wearing
dog tags that said he was "Steele, Junior".

That paperwork error created problems for
him for YEARS after he was discharged, as
you can well imagine.

[Robb]

16. Plus the stickiness thing

...For example, our county sheriff, who is in his 50s, still goes by Junior. :shrug:

[Richard Steele]

31. Yup. I never heard anyone call Grandad anything but "Junior" his entire life.

The last decade or two, "Junior" itself started to become "nickname-ized";
I noticed more and more people calling him "June".

[w8liftinglady]

10. I like them as long as the relationship is strong

did it with my oldest

[w8liftinglady]

11. stick his name in there somewhere.trust me

[tjwmason]

13. It's pretty unheard of over here,

and is regarded as an American stereotype. The only time it's done over here is for kings and queens and their regnal titles (which aren't necessarily their real names - George VI was actually called Albert, but took the regnal name in honour of his father George V).

My father's name is one of my middle names which I think is a less blatent means of honouring a family member. When my nephew was born my sister could only think of two male names which she liked - one of which is also mine...after much pondering it was decided that he would have my name as his middle name and the other as his first name simply becuase having two people with the same name would be too confusing.

[swimboy]

39. I think that's the final clue

to the sole remaining unknown initial. :P

[Radio_Lady]

43. TJWMason, you have a smart sister! That was a good choice.

[I Have A Dream]

14. Hate it. n/t

[MissMillie]

15. I think it's fine

No reason why a perfectly good family name shouldn't be passed on.

But I don't like the "Trey" thing.

[underpants]

19. He comes from a longline of Dingbats

:bounce:

[trof]

20. I'm a 'Junior', but I dropped it.

My parents were divorced when I was 4.
My father was thence forth persona non grata in our side of the family.

[AggieGal]

21. I have changed my mind over the years.

While growing up, I thought it was unfair that the junior did not have their own name. It was like they were forever linked with how their father was as a person.

Now I like the same name thing. My husband is a junior and I like his name so I see nothing wrong with passing it on.

I like the nickname Trey for the III.

[Deep13]

22. After the last seven years I've pretty much had it with Junior. nt

[Marrah_G]

23. My oldest son is a Junior

I have no problem with it.

[PRETZEL]

24. For what it's worth,

when my son was born my ex-wife told me in no uncertain term

"I ain't having a Big Dick and a Little Dick" running around. Needless to say my son is not named Richard Jr. But can't say I blame her.

[Radio_Lady]

50. What first name did you give him? I was married to a Richard a long time ago,

but we had a stillborn girl whom we never named.

I never thought about a male name during the pregnancy because of illness, but definitely would NEVER have chosen "Little Dick" -- that's too much of a burden. I might have used the name Daniel Richard, but that's only a guess.

In a second marriage, I named my son David Scott. We are not Scottish, but I've always liked the name, maybe because of Sir Walter Scott.

Now David has two sons -- the older one is Nicholas David, and the younger one is Tyler Scott.

I do like those choices!

[JVS]

25. not my bag, baby

[Burma Jones]

26. I had a classmate that was "the Third", this morphed, very easily, into

"The Turd"

[Radio_Lady]

45. OMG! That was unforeseen nomenclature... until you mentioned it...

[cobalt1999]

27. Never liked Jr's, but after that it's kind of cool.

My dad was a Jr. and hated it, but I would have like to have been a III.

[Katina]

28. personal choice. If the name has real meaning to you

and you want to pass it on to your offspring, go for it. There are far stranger reasons people use for naming their children.

[Dragonbreathp9d]

29. I think they are arrogant

[supernova]

30. Technically, "Jrs" can drop the Jr when Sr passes on

Because now you're THE William Smith. It's still on your birth certificate, but you don't have to have cards printed as Jr.

My dad was Jr but grandad was Will and daddy was Bill. The middle name "Morris" is something of a mystery. We don't know where that came from.

My nephew is Kirkland Burton____ B____ III. But grandad is Burt, dad is Kirk, and the only other name they could come up with is "Trex." Yeah, they weren't to fond of Trey either.

[skygazer]

32. My brother is III and my nephew is IV

Me and all my siblings were named for family members. I like the continuity of it and the connection to the past. I don't see anything egotistical about it or uncreative. I think it's a way of remembering those who came before you. I guess people can choose to see it any way they want to.

I enjoy the history attached to our names. My .02. :hi:

[Maine-ah]

33. in my hubbie's family

the first born male is named after the grandfather which has made two names consistent over four generations. I'm thankful we had a girl. :D

[Rhythm]

34. Jr's and III's on both sides...

My dad was Rodney Alvin (whom everybody called Rod)
My older brother is Rodney Alvin Jr (casually known as 'Al')
His son is Rodney Alvin III (known since early childhood as 'Bud')

Oktoberain's dad was James Allen (simply called Jim)
Her little brother is James Allen Jr (but everyone calls him 'Bub')
His son is James Allen III (who started out as 'baby Bub', but is now simply called James).

I'd like to see these lines continue, if only because both of the seniors are deceased, and were genuinely good men and good dads.

[bikebloke]

35. Against it (for my own reasons)

I'm a "junior". Though it was done throughout the family with a bunch of "big ____"'s and "little_____"'s. With my father it was pure ego to the extreme. He even once suggested I name my kid after him too(no fucking way, mate). Plus, he saw me as a lesser clone of himself, putting me down or one upping my every accomplishment. Then felt threatened when I outgrew him in height, intelligence, education and common sense.

I dropped the suffix many years ago. And now that the "senior" has joined the ancestors, there's no need for it. Received a letter from a relative yesterday using it(crikey).

I probably won't breed due to my petty self-centered parents, but if I do, the kid will get its own name.

[Jimbo S]

36. I had a HS classmate who was a "II", not a "Jr"

That's one way to get around the "Jr" thing.

I like the suffixes.

[Jimbo S]

37. I have a distant relative who is a "Jr" and named his son "IV".

Can't figure that out. I met him last month but didn't have the courage to bring it up.

So Robb, one way to mess with your kid and run up the score, skip numbers!

[Radio_Lady]

52. That's pretty funny! But very odd, too. Maybe he didn't like the Roman numeral III!

It looks pretty strange "sans serifs" --

[Samurai_Writer]

38. BOTH of my sons are Jrs.

Long story, but my oldest son was named after his adoptive father, and my youngest son was named after his father. I had no choice in either of my sons' names, and I HATED it. It's like they said, "Oh, thanks for going through 9 months of pregnancy and labor and delivery. Probably hurt like a bitch. Naming the baby? Oh no, you can't do that. He's a BOY and must have his FATHER'S name."

Yes, I still have issues about this. And now my youngest son wants to name his first boy "RadGuyTX III".

[Aristus]

40. I'm "Aristus the IIIrd".

Same name as my father and grandfather. Sometimes, I see it as a family tradition, other times as self-aggrandizement through your children, still other times as lack of imagination. Depends on my mood. B-)

[Blue_Tires]

41. i'm blue tires, jr.

and i've had no problems with it

[AlCzervik]

46. My FIL name was John, my BIL was named after him and i have 3 nephews

all with the same name, 2 even have the same middle name. They remind of George Foreman and his 5 sons named George.

[WritingIsMyReligion]

47. I think it's an unimaginative copout.

:P :P

[Left Is Write]

48. I'm not a big fan.

I'm also not a big fan of calling III's Trey (and definitely not a fan of just using the name Trey as a given name).

That said, it's not my kid, so I get no vote in the matter. :)

[CT_Progressive]

55. Not a fan myself. Lacks originality and smacks of ego.

[Penndems]

56. My hubby's a "third", so it sounds like a great idea to me!

For those who like to keep the family name going, it's the way to go. :)

[Javaman]

57. Well my son's name is Junior the 3rd. nt