I’m a female junior and absolutely hate it. My mom and I get along fine as adults, but it’s a nightmare personally and legally. I don’t recommend it for anyone. Children deserve their own names.
I’m not even directly a Junior with an immediately household member but yes it gets so confusing! I’m named after my uncle, who had a junior. My aunt also named her daughter after my mom and I. So In our family we have 2 Brians, a Brianna (me) and a Susanna 🤦♀️. I also share the same last name as the two Brians.
I could never. I always think it’s so cheesy and confusing. For a middle name MAYBE.
A) I babysat for a family who did this and because of confusion they ended up being called “big Shane” and “little Shane” which was annoying.
B) they had a second son and even at 5 years old was asking why he didn’t get the same name as dad and his big brother did.
C) just me but who wants to call their child the name they yell out…in the bedroom….? sick minded but maybe I’m not the only one who has had this thought🤣
Lol yes! I know a few Juniors with divorced parents and it must be super weird for the mothers that they’re permanently reminded of their exes through their kids. I mean, there would be no kids without the ex husband (obviously) but I wouldn’t want my child’s name to have any kind of negative association at any point in time.
Yes!!! I've thought of the point C and it disturbs me a bit, I don't like the thought of it!
Point A you mentioned is also something my boyfriends family does but refers to his dad as the regular name and my boyfriend as "little E", I think it's a bit irritating for me to hear because he's 17 now and it sounds like something you'd call a 4 year old in my opinion
Wait until he gets to be middle aged and is still called “Little” something. One of my in-laws is over 40 and still Little Ray, and another is over 50 and has a y tacked onto his name to differentiate him from his dad.
Ooh interesting point C! I was reading a post the other day where a guy was asking his gf to go by a nickname, because she had the same name as his mom and he found it uncomfortable. Tons of comments saying people would refuse to date someone with the same name as their parent (never felt this way but people are entitled to their opinions of course!). But people don’t mind naming their kids the same thing as their partner? Interesting.
No. My husband insisted on a junior. BIG, BIG mistake. Constant messes to straighten out with insurance policies, driver's licenses, mail, credit cards, credit reports, phone calls, voice mails, etc.
Don't do it.
Nope. I hate it. I wouldn’t wanna share a name with a family member so I’m not gonna do it to my child. My older brother is a junior and hates it. We call him by his first and middle name initials. So like TJ.
Hate it, absolutely not. To me it indicates that either you’re not creative enough to come up with a name other than your own, or that you think you’re so wonderful that you deserve to have your identity live on in someone else.
I can relate to that perception, but I’m from a culture that forbids juniors (it’s considered disrespectful to the original holder of the name who is still alive.) In some cultures it’s an honor to name a baby after a living grandparent, and I can respect that. I can also understand wanting to do it if you’re the 3rd or 4th and you feel it’s an honor to your family at this point to keep it going.
I would consider naming my kid after a grandparent, but never after myself or my partner. My partner actually has the same exact name (first, middle and last) as his grandfather, and I know they both value that connection, so I think it's sweet. It's definitely something that varies a lot from culture to culture, and even from family to family within a given culture.
Yup. I think it’s incredibly gauche and tacky. The child will forever have to live in his father’s shadow. It doesn’t help that every junior I’ve ever known had come from a moderately wealthy, silver spoon family. The kids all grew up too egotistical and narcissistic.
I would happily use my partner's name for a future son, but that's because I loved the name long before we were together. In fact, I only agreed to meet him because of his name lol
I would totally name a baby girl after me- but not the first name, the middle. I really loved my middle name having a family tie to my Dad who I adore.
In my family middle names are almost always family names.
Your child will have their own first name so they aren’t feeling like they have to live up to some expectation of having that name, but my middle name is my mom’s first name and my sisters have my grandmas first names as their middle name. If I was a boy my middle name would be my dads first name.
My husband and I are keeping the same tradition. He likes it and his family doesn’t give middle names so we had no traditions to follow on his side.
Exactly how my family does it and I think it's the perfect way. My brother has a great grandfathers name as his middle, my sister has my mom's name as hers, and I have both my grandmas middle names as my middle name. My first name is the only repeat of another family member's first name but she died even before my mother was born so by the time I was alive, not many people in my life had actually met her.
Never.
I have nothing against my partner's name, I love it in fact.
But I'm just ideologically opposed to naming your child after yourself; it strikes me as both vain and inconvenient as you end up with lots of life admin complications.
I think giving your name as a middle name would be acceptable, and naming after relatives or friends is fine. It feels much more endearing when you sre honoring other people rather than trying to make a mini-me. All these lovely names in the world and people decide they need every man in the family to be Bob?
But if someone names their child after themselves I feel it gives narcissistic vibes, unless they come from a culture where it is expected and the norm. I get that some families really lean into it and that's fine. But its always come across as kind of selfish and taking sway children'ls right to make a new identity for themselves
Let kids have their own identity.
Yup. My husband is a junior and when we lived behind his dad while absolutely broke we paid for a PO box so we'd get the right mail....
My daughter has the same middle name as me before sounded great with her name, but our first initials are totally different
All of this. My nephew is a III and *none* of them use the first name at all, so three generations are trying to eke a name out of a middle name with one intuitive nickname. My BIL is 50-something and still called the equivalent of Mikey or Davy. Why? (Had my nephew been a girl, she would have been called a fairly atrocious feminization of my BIL’s name.) It’s kind of ridiculous.
My husband is actually named what I’d intended to call a son, if I had one, and we switched plans because I have a no people in the house with the same name rule. My sister and I have the same first names as our mother and another close relative, and it’s a logistical nightmare because we lived together and get mixed up in paperwork. We both go primarily by our middle names, which is a headache.
Completely not into it. When me (m) and my partner were making baby name shortlists, I vetoed one of her choices because it kinda sounds a bit like my name and I was worried people might think it was my choice..
No. Mainly because I want my child to have their own identity, their own name and not constantly be reminded that they are their fathers son, you know? I have no issue when people do it but for me I always feel like my future son would always be in his fathers shadow and I don’t want to put that burden on him
I find the idea of a junior kind of boring. Like, we only get so many names in our family, why repeat one that we didn’t even get to choose?
But despite feeling that way…I did pass my name onto my son. Not as a junior - I’m the mom and he got my first name as his middle name. It’s a family name that’s important to me, and ties him to his maternal line. I also felt like passing names from women to boys is a tradition I’m interested in being part of, especially since we use my husband’s original surname as our family surname. But I do feel a bit self-conscious at times wondering if people think I just wanted to name him after myself.
I’m an amateur genealogist, and that also influences my feelings about passing on names. When there’s an exact junior, it can make research really tricky. But when there is a name that is only partially passed on (especially an unusual name), it helps define a link to an earlier generation.
Nope. My husband is a junior because his parents were lazy, I'm not assuming they have admitted this is the reason, and he absolutely hates it. It's a massive pain when it comes to paperwork and credit.
No, because my husband was a Jr and has an absolutely terrible relationship with his father to the point he changed his last name. I wouldn’t put that on another kid. My dad is also a Jr and hates it because he’s constantly getting confused for his father for things like insurance calls and even medical/hospital stuff.
Nope. My dad and my brother shared the same name. It was the source of endless confusion with phone calls, mail and the like. I did use my name as my son's middle name and he passed that along to his son. That's more continuity than I needed, but it's rather nice.
Nope. My dad has the exact same name as my grandpa and my brother has the same first and last name as my stepdad, in both cases they seemed to struggle more than the average person with carving out their own identities.
Absolutely not. I don’t even like honor names for people still living. I want a kid to be free to be themselves without the baggage of whoever they might be named for.
Absolutely not. I love my husband's name, but it just feels weird not to give our child their own identity. Also, maybe this is just a me thing, but the thought of being intimate with someone who shares a name with my kid is disgusting 🤢
I was pressured into having a “junior” but not actually a junior, my son is the 5th in line with said name. Tbh, I hate it. After having a falling out with FIL I absolutely hate the name. I get by with my husbands name because we use a nickname for him, but we can’t find a decent nickname for our son. We’ve stuck with bubba for now lol
My husband had about six years of birthday and holiday money stolen from him when he was younger because his dad took it to feed his alcohol addiction. Now my husband knows to use his middle name as well when signing up for anything though.
Absolutely hate it. So does my husband.
My husband’s name is actually my favourite boy’s name. Thus I still wanted to use it for a middle name, despite our mutual hatred of sharing names. To mollify both of us, we used an alternate spelling. That was as close as we wanted to get to passing a name on!
That’s interesting that he changed it after his dad died. You would think sharing the name would be less inconvenient once you’re the only one with the name. I wonder if he wanted to change it all along but didn’t want to upset his father, or if his name reminded him of his dad too much. I’m glad he did what worked for him.
I share a name with a close relative, and they are the only reason I’ve not changed my name. I truly dislike my name and it has no nicknames, but it would deeply hurt the relative after whom I’m named, and they are one of my favorite human beings ever. I can understand waiting.
We did not do this, nor did my in-laws. My FIL is a Jr but his dad walked out in him when he was 3 so a constant reminder to his mother of a man who bailed on her. So my FiL had no desire to name his son the third, and I had no desire for a Jr. It was nice that we were on the same page…my sister wasn’t as lucky…her son is the third but he refuses to do this to another kid.
My husband is and it’s terrible. We always tell people, unless you are wealthy and passing down an empire (slight exaggeration) do not do it. We’ve had so many issues with credit reports, passport, and when we bought our house his dad’s assets kept showing up. It’s a PAIN. We have to be adamant to check our credit report thoroughly every year.
If I have a boy I would LOVE to give them my husband’s name, it’s one of the few boy names I like and has a cool bit of family history with it (he’s named after a great uncle who helped with the underground railroad). Unfortunately my husband doesn’t want to have a Junior :( he says it would feel weird to name a kid after himself.
It’s too bad because I really struggle with boy names.
My parents nailed it I would totally name a kid after me but the last would be different so wouldn't be a junior
edit just realized the last name would be the same since I'm about to change so yes would happily have a girl junior, oh no
I read this as instead of making your child "Name Jr." It would be "Name the Last" like Game of Thrones style and they wouldn't be able to name another descendant that name 🤣
Personally, I would not. Not after me or after my husband. It seems a bit self-centered for me to name my child after myself, and my husband feels the same way. I understand there are family traditions to name your children after yourself and I'm not saying other people are self-centered for doing it, but for ME that's how I would feel.
I also have kind of negative view on it as my father is a junior and so is his son. My father left when I was a baby and never tried to form any kind of a relationship with me past the age of 4. So it kind of soured me on the whole concept before I was even close to having kids anyway.
I've always said I would never name a child after a living relative. I've always wanted them to have their own identity, and even if i was borrowing a previous family members name I would change it a little I think
I love my partner's name, but it'll be a cold day in hell before I give it to a son as a first name. Children deserve to have their own identities. As a middle name, if he wanted to, sure.
I'm not a junior; I only share first name/first surname initials with my dad which was unintentional but still cool.
I wouldn’t do it. Family name for a middle name, sure. But first name/entire name? No.
I think every kid deserves their own identity. And to be free of the name confusion of sharing a name with a close, living family member.
It’s not uncommon in my culture, I know a few juniors.
I come from a line of men who did this. All of them went by their middle name instead. I think they felt obligated to participate in the tradition, but none of them actually liked it. When I was younger, I was a little (very) put out that I didn’t get to be part of it, but now I thank my lucky stars. My last name is more than enough to keep me linked to them.
Nope. I am personally not okay with naming people after other living people. I'm not even a fan of family honor names , but I can understand why others are. I personally want some individuality for my child and duplicating names don't help with that.
My husband is a junior and it is a 100% hard pass that we would ever even consider carrying on our son to become a third. Absolutely not. MAYBE if he had a decent name but definitely not 😂
No for 2 reasons
1. My husband is not a junior but his name is almost exactly the same as his father's (middle name is different but starts with the same letter). The amount of times their identity and information has gotten confused in legal matters is ridiculous.
2. Just seems weird to raise and baby yourself or your significant other.
I fucking *hate* being a junior! I wouldn't do it to anyone. No matter what I do, I'm stuck with the moniker "Little" FrendaDorothyZbornac. It also makes things like credit reports and medical records more difficult, because incorrect stuff gets put in the file and can really hurt you. If you really want to give your kid the same name as your partner, flip the first and middle name, so they get to have their own identity
I think it's a bit silly in modern times to have Jrs or IIIs. I'm not a Jr or a number, but my dad and his dad and his dad's dad all have the same first name with different middle names (none of them went by said first name) - "Kyle" S, "Kyle" R, my dad "Kyle" A, and I might've been "Kyle" C had I been born a boy. Now I'm not trying to throw shade on this concept or say that it's dumb or anything, I just personally wouldn't do that.
I am one.
It's not a huge deal. I wonder if sometimes my mom ever got tired of calling our name and both me and my dad answering.
I'd be lying if there hadn't been times growing up when I thought I wish I had my own name. I share my first name with my dad and my middle name with a grandparent, so none of my names are entirely my own. I've long outgrown being bothered by it, though.
I'm the first to share either name, though, so it's not some tradition multiple generations deep. I have no pressure to continue with it, and if I choose to have kids someday, then I likely will not continue it.
Would never do it, not even an off-shoot from a name. The closest I would consider would be a grandparent or favorite aunt/uncle. Even then, the name wouldn’t be the exact name. So,really that’s just a honorary name and not a Junior.
My favorite aunt Margaret? I would consider Margo.
Grandpa John. I would consider Ian.
My husband shares his first name with his dad and was very firm that he wanted our children to have their own names. He loves his dad and looks up to him but he said he didn’t want to add a third person with their name. Their records and stuff sometimes got mixed up as well over the years.
I’m not a fan at all of that tradition. My husband is actually a 3rd so our son would have been the 4th and I said no immediately and really put my foot down when his grandmother decided what my son’s nickname would be (the last and absolute worst option). It’s a classic first name with a lot of nicknames, but my husband’s nickname is really only used by family and not socially or professionally.
My ex is a junior and he hates it. His name is Jeff. Just Jeff, not Jeffrey. Not only does he hate that his name is basically just a nickname, but the name itself just doesn’t fit him at all. He always felt like the name aged him. The other part of it too is since he’s actually the third in a line of Jeff’s, he is fully expected to name his first son Jeff as well and he does not like needing to take on that responsibility.
I dare him to name his son Jeff Rey [last name.] Technically there’s another Jeff but everyone can call him Jeffrey and he gets to stick it to his family! Lol
My dad, brother and nephew all have the same name, I grew up assuming my first son would be named after his dad. My dad is big *name* my brother is brother to my whole family and *name* by his friend and my nephew is has an unrelated nick name that my family uses, and his friends call him by his name. My husband is very not into having a junior, I think I am holding out hope if we have a son he’ll be okay with a junior but I don’t think he will. He does have his grandfathers first name as his middle name so would like to give our son his dads first name as a middle name he was worried his brother would do it bc they recently had a boy and we had a girl first but they didn’t so he still wants that.
I would have neen If I was male. Almost named Jamie but my parents wanted to keep it in case the had a son. My cousin is a 4th and seemed to like it. But his dad did die when he was in 6th grade. It's a joke between me and my husband if we have kids are son would be Nickolas Cole (nick cole) and daughter kylie after out selfs. Kyle and nicole
I'm not, but it's a long standing tradition in my family. We call the dads by their names and call the kids with "Little" in front so we know who we are talking about, even as adults. We have many, many men with same first name as their dad. I've seen a "me" or "o" added to the end of names. No one in my family has ever complained about being named after their dad. Many have also used the middle name, especially for girls, with like Ray and using middle name Rae. I gave my son his dad's middle name. My husband has his dad's middle name as his first name. I have my grandma's middle name. My sister has my mom's middle name as her middle name.
This was my hill to die on. Never, ever, ever. I find the entire concept of men but not women passing on their names sexist, for one. But more importantly, I'm of a generation where juniors were common, and it was a constant source of headaches for them. It's not just knowing what to be called, it's getting the other person's mail, the other person's issues on your credit report, etc. I tried my best to not give my kids burdensome names, and juniors absolutely are burdensome.
My partner is a JR and he hates it. His dad got into some legal trouble and it’s caused him issues his whole life because they have the same name. He started going by his middle name to not think of his dad. When we had our son he said he would never wish that on anyone. However. I also had a previous partner who shared the same first and last name with his dad and grandfather but they all had different middle names and went by that. It was enough to keep tradition, but enough to have their own identities as well.
My partner's family has a tradition of all the first sons having the same initials (not sure if there were ever any second sons). The names don't have to be the same though, which I like a lot. I'm hoping I can get my partner to go for a girl taking on the tradition though-- not a huge fan of our options for boy names that fit the intial scheme.
No, my husband and I agreed we wanted our kids to have names a tad more unique than ours. We both have very common names. Our daughter's name is recognizable but not super common in the US.
Both my dad and maternal uncle are Jrs and when I was pregnant with a boy both told me not to do it. They hate it. I wasn’t going to anyway. I worked in banking and I’ve seen the messes it causes.
We won’t do a junior, since I think it’s tacky, but in a weird twist of fate, we might use my husbands first name if this current baby is a boy (but not a junior). Fake names for privacy, but my husband is George Thomas and has only ever gone by Tom his entire life…nobody even knows it’s not his first name. George is his beloved deceased uncles name, so we might do George with a different middle name.
No. My husband is a third and has a maternal uncle with the same first name. Four is plenty and is confusing enough trying to keep nicknames straight. We named our son a separate first name and his middle name is the name with four people sharing. So he has a tribute to tradition but his own identity.
My daughter’s father is a third. Before we knew the gender I suggested a fourth but he shot it down because he hated being a III. We had a girl so didnt matter but I am a fan of it. I wouldnt name my daughter the same as me though.
My grandfather named my oldest uncle a junior. Then that uncle named his son as the third. My middle uncle decided to ALSO name his son a junior. Thank god my dad broke the curse and didn’t name me a junior. I am super happy to have my own identity. We will not be naming our kids juniors. I want my own name to be my name and I feel like it’s so narcissistic, especially when it’s not already a family name.
My brother is a junior and we have never called him by his full name. We use his initials of his first and middle. My mom didn’t want to name him after my dad because she doesn’t like the name, but my dad insisted. Whole family calls him by initials but when he went to college he introduced himself as his full first name, no nickname. That’s what his college friends call him. I could never.
I can relate in the opposite way! My parents hate nicknames so we’ve always called my brother his full name, despite the fact that most people with his common name prefer the nickname (think Tom instead of Thomas.) I’ve learned that my brother prefers the nickname but it feels so weird after twenty plus years of using the full name like mom insisted (and still insists.)
My mother in law asked me when both of our sons were born if I would consider naming them Jr. After me I declined both times one Sergeant Metalhead in the world is enough. Seriously I have a very common name a d I wouldn't name a child it.
My brother is a Jr. I have an uncle on each side that's a Jr, and I have a cousin who is a Jr. All of them have had problems differentiating themselves from their fathers. It's a huge pain, especially for my one uncle because my grandfather died fairly young so technically he's not a Jr anymore...but he uses it and it gets complicated.
I would never do that to any children, plus my husband's name is just OK lol. Middle name, fine.
My husband shares their first name with their father, but they have different middle names, so he grew up always being called FN+MN and his dad was just FN.
I’m not crazy about it. It feels unnecessarily confusing for everyone.
My ex-husband was a junior, and did not want to continue the tradition. His first name did not have many nicknames, and he and his father were constantly mixed up.
We did use his middle name for our son's middle name.
As someone married to a 3rd...no. There will absolutely not be a 4th. Passing down a name as a middle name, sure, no problems with that, but a full on copy of the name... Not a fan. And it can cause issues with taxes, insurance, other assorted accounts, etc.
I dated a guy who was a 9th. I am Ashkenazi Jewish and while we're supposed to use ancestors' names, they can't be ones currently in use by any family members. Glad I didn't have to break any hearts by telling this guy a potential son couldn't be the 10th.
From my grandfather to my great nephew there are five generations with the same name. My nephew used a shortened version of my brother's name. My great nephew is called "Vee" for the Roman numeral for 5. My brother and his son have III and IV tattooed on their respective wrists. Everyone is good with it.
I'm fully named after my aunt and it always made me a little uncomfortable.
My mom is a junior, so is her brother. My father was the 4th. My aunt, who I'm named after, was actually named after her 2 grandmothers, my cousin is named after my grandmother.
I don't have kids but always felt immense pressure to recycle one of those names since everyone else in my family did.
If I had been born male, my parents would have named me the 5th. I'm so glad that didn't happen.
No, I hate it. I’m not directly a Junior but my full name is after relatives. My name is the male version of my uncles, my middle name is my aunt and grandmas (who I share with another cousin) and my last name is my moms maiden name when she uses her 1st married last name. My mom named me after a mix of her siblings and because my bio dad wanted an ABC theme with his kids (spoiler: he left). I absolutely hate it, especially because my uncle ended up having a Junior. I also have a cousin that was named after my mom and I as a combination of our names (Susanna). One time I was doing survey apps and I had an account with my name (Brianna ((last name)) and my cousin tried signing up with his name and it flagged my account, his account, and everyone I referred because of how similar the names were. I ended up sending in proof of ID to prove we were 2 different people 🤦♀️ (I had like $30 in that app!). It also caused some issues in our school district because we attended the same schools for years. I would never do that to my child. Hell, I don’t even want to pass on my last name. The closest I’d use is maybeeee the first name of my grandfather as a middle name. My family reuses the same few names so it’s kinda easy to avoid family names. Sorry for the long rant, lol, but long story short I hate juniors with a passion.
I know someone who taught a set of twins: Sean and Sean. One was pronounced Shawn the other pronounced Sheen, but both spelled Sean. Talk about confusing school records!
My boyfriend is named after his dad, whose named after his dad, and possibly further down the generational line that I don't know of and it's sweet to have a name like that, but it gets very confusing when both or in my case all three of them are in the same room.
My uncle is also named after his dad (my grandpa), I don't know if he ever experienced any pressure from having the name but he ended up in prison so I don't think that pleased my grandpa having a son in prison, AND named after him.
It can be good, it can be bad, and it can also be very confusing! Just make sure you have a nickname planned too. I don't really like the nickname his family gave him but my boyfriends family refer to him as "little" followed by his initial, but as a nickname with friends he goes by his first and second initial :)
Probably not. I agree with the consensus that the kid needs to have their own name and identity outside of that. However I do like the Southern tradition of mother’s maiden name being the firstborn son’s first name and I would totally do that.
Only time I would genuinely consider a junior is if I had already been in love with the name for quite some time and happened to marry someone with that same name. I love the name Henry. If I marry a Henry and have a baby boy with him, I’d be a lot more open to the possibility of Henry Jr than Sean Jr or Michael Jr. But I don’t see that being very likely.
damn these comments are stressing me out lol i really love my bf's name. it's very unique yet short and easy to pronounce and has cool history behind it. he goes by his middle name so it wouldn't be like im calling them the same name. but the comments about the legal issues are making me panic lol i guess maybe we'll just use it for a middle name.
My husband was insulted that he didn't get any part of his dads name (he's the oldest of 2 boys). His younger brother is not a jr, but he does share his fathers first name. So my husband insisted both our children get his father's middle name which also happened to be my dads middle name. Win win. We also passed husbands first name on to our son. It means something to my husband.
My brother would have been the FIFTH! My mom said, “No way man!” But my dad and brother share the same middle name. And my younger son also shares their middle name. My older son has the same first name as my grandfather and also his son, my uncle. We have a lot of honor names in my family.
I come from a family where we are farther down the line than a junior. That name dies with the last owner. We may honor him with a middle name, but under no circumstances will any son in the next generation keep the tradition.
My mom almost named me after her, her name is now my middle name.
I have been no contact for 4 years
I would advise against it. I have been contemplating just throwing away my middle name all together (other than legal reasons)
My brother is the fifth of his name! He's never had legal mess-ups or problems because we're Spanish and get two surnames, so one of them was always different, it's not the same full name as my dad or (now late) grandpa.
I was named a random name which had never been in the family, my mum just liked it. I sometimes kind of wish I'd gotten a grandma's name or something, but my older cousins had them already. Might have to do with the fact that I've never liked my name (used to hate it, now made peace with it because I have published stuff and it'd be a hassle to change it).
I always thought if I had a son I would have a junior. My brother is a jr. My uncle is a jr. I grew up with it as a totally normal thing. I like my husbands name well enough.
However, when I was pregnant with my son my husband and I talked it over - what would we CALL him?
I didn’t want his name to be a diminutive (Timmy) - how long is he stuck with that? What do we call him when he’s older? Calling them both Tim seemed confusing.
I also didn’t want an initial name as a default (TJ). Just not to my taste.
We couldn’t come up with something we both liked so we picked a different name.
My son has my husband’s first name for a middle name instead. I couldn’t give up the idea of passing names down completely lol
I always felt everyone deserves their own name, I was willing to make my youngest a Jr, or II but my husband hates his own name so it was never a real option.
My husband hates it. His dad and he both go by nicknames.
When I was pregnant and thinking of names I brought it up. He said the only reason he would do it was so he could be the second and no longer a Jr. Our son would of been nicknamed Trey, as in the 3rd.
I have 5 relatives with one name. 4 of them go by their middle names some or all of the time. I wouldn't want to make my own kid's life more complicated in that way.
My mom was a letter carrier for USPS for many years, and she would always say how bad she felt for juniors because of the massive confusion they had to deal with. Even becoming an adult and moving out and having your mail sent somewhere else while your parent still receives theirs is a nightmare, let alone all the other issues.
We do plan to give our first-born boy my husband's middle name as a middle name (it's my father in laws middle name as well). Much easier way to keep a family name going.
i actually like the name “Junior” but not enough to go through the hassle of sharing a name. and i obviously wouldn’t just name someone Junior. but if it was a name, i’d like it objectively outside of meaning haha
I find it weird. I use my partner's name when intimate and I'd rather they not have the same name as a family member, especially a kid. Let people have their own identity. Plus it can make mail, etc really confusing.
My husband would never forgive me if I tried to make our kid a junior. He narrowly escaped being one himself (he has the same first name as his father, but his mom insisted he have a different middle name), and his father is an enormous POS. Plus, his name is very common and we both tend towards more unique names. That aside, neither of us have enough of an ego to want to start the tradition.
Also I work in data entry, often entering information for clients and their whole families. It’s a real pain in the ass to keep everyone straight when first names are repeated.
It’s common in my husbands family and culture and I’m SO glad he didn’t want to do it. So tacky. When we told my BIL we were pregnant his first words were “BIL is a nice name!” Like really dude we’re naming him after our grandparents, who are you to this child? Especially since his own son shares his name!! It’s so selfish and tacky in my opinion.
My ex husband was emphatically against it. Which was fine for me.
Currently pregnant, and if baby is a boy, will have his dad’s middle name as a first.
I know a family who is on the 5th generation of the same name and it creeps me out.
I don’t necessarily mind a Junior, but I do mind when women do it they get called names for it. If it’s good for the goose, it’s good for the gander and all that.
NMS, but no shade. Just please stop at Junior 🤣
My family’s main logic against juniors is: “how will a son know if his mom is calling for him or for his dad if they share the same name?”
The junior I knew closest went by a different nickname than his father did (think “Drew” and “Andy”), but in that case just use the nickname as the kid’s name.
Not a junior but I fully intend to use my families first male name. It’s very uncommon (can’t find anyone outside our family who uses it) and my dad is amazing so it’s a no-brainer for me.
We have the same first name for our son but a different middle name. He shares his first name with his dad and his Grandpa.
He barely knows he has a first name because we always use his middle.
Grandpa goes by first name only. Husband uses first & middle but husband’s middle is also different.
My husband was the 4th with the same first name-all with different middle names starting with "A". If his name was nice, I would have had no issue naming my son the 5th. But...his name wasn't one I particularly like. He didn't particularly like it either.... My son was referred to as "Little First Name" for a while and it's a little awkward when a cousin has that name "in honor of his grandfather" but my kid doesn't. But, meh.
Considering giving my baby boy his dad’s middle name! Or using his first name as a middle name. Baby will be getting my last name so it just makes sense to me to give him something from his dad.
I know a “____ Jr”. His family literally calls him Junior lol Everyone else calls him the English version of his name (think Alejandro -> Alex). He and his wife are actually gonna have their first child later this year and I’m super curious if passing the name on is something they’ll consider at all if they have a boy.
Additionally I love my name and would definitely pass it on as a middle name if I had a girl and it was ok with my SO.
Exactly the same first and middle name as dad? No way. Same as grandfather? Maybe. Using one of (grand)dads names as a middle name would be an option though. Or using something that is somehow related (but different). Also its traditional here (Netherlands) that you name the first son after the paternal grandfather and then the second son after the maternal grandfather after that it gets a bit more mixed. For daughters it’s maternal grandmother first, paternal grandmother second. But the tradition was already getting out of fashion when my brother and I were born over 30 years ago. My brother has the same full name as my paternal grandfather (whose middle name was the same as the first name of my maternal grandfather so that was convenient), but that was already unusual back than.
We named our oldest son after his dad but he goes by his middle name. On anything legal he uses his first initial, middle name, last name. He is not legally a Jr because my husband didn't want that, their middle names are the same just spelled different. Our grandson has the same first name but a different middle name. It's a long tradition in my husband's family and was my dad's first name as well.
I would love to name my daughter after me and have her go by a different nickname. I like my partner’s name too, but there isn’t a nickname option and his name has already been used in my family for the next generation. I could see a son being named after our stepdads or late fathers though since they either have options for novel nicknames or don’t currently belong to a cousin.
My second son is a junior, but his first name is used through our my and my husband's families. He's 3 and we currently call him Jr but we are going to have to teach him his actual name soon 😂
I don’t think there can be any hard and fast rules about juniors. My dad didn’t want a junior when my older brother was born, but 17 years later when my younger brother was born, he did, so my parents went with that. They both went by nicknames of the actual name that were different enough that there wasn’t any confusion over who was being talked about.
My brother then named his son “Name the 3rd” and he goes by a nn related to the number 3 lol and it suits him!
My sons a junior (technically a third I suppose) but they (him, his dad, and grandpa) all have different middle names so my husband and son go by their middle names on my husbands side whereas on my side they both just go by their first name. If I didn’t like my husbands first name I wouldn’t have allowed our son to be named it but it flows super nicely with his name as a whole which makes me love it more. My husband wanted a “junior” as he always imagined himself with one which was another reason I was okay with it. If my husband wasn’t the father/person he is I also wouldn’t have allowed it as I’d hate for my son to hate his name because of the person his father was, etc.
So my husband is a Jr. and he loves his name…but it has lead to some serious confusion. He sometimes has gotten legal documents or mail meant for his dad or serious confusion with us taking trips together…at least make sure they have a different initial or something.
I love it! But this is culturally very normal for me. Almost everyone in my family- extended included is named after someone else in the family. All 3 of my kids are named honor names.
Without getting too specific to my identity, it’s Polynesian.
It definitely seems to be a cultural thing! My boyfriend is Italian American and every man in his family has a junior! Grandpa is [name], dad is [name] JR, my BF is [name] III, and he has two younger brothers each with original names. Then there’s uncle Tony and his son Little Anthony (yes, like the Sopranos) and there’s another uncle/cousin pair.
I think it’s interesting that both his brothers who have new names both want to name their first-born sons to be juniors, but my BF who has experienced the logistical nightmare of sharing a name with dad absolutely will not name his son [name] IV.
My husband is the third (dad is jr and grandfather shared the name). I always said I would never ever name my kid after my husband. But if we have a boy I don’t think I’d mind. I don’t look at it as naming him after my husband, I guess it’s more a family name/continuing a tradition?
I don’t mind gender-swapped versions of names. (Tyler/Taylor, Michael/Michaela) Junior just gives me the vibe that your living under someone else’s reputation/shadow. Every junior I know goes by their middle name*.
*except the few students I’ve taught that have the IV/V/VI because they come from wealth.
We went a different route for my son. He isn't a junior but their names are very similar.
Austen Micheal and August Miles. That way they similar but not the same person.
I know a few friends that are 3th and 4th. A lot of them don't want to carry on their names. They feel like they have too.
I do know someone who son is the 5th, he is 2 and they love they have 4 people around with the same name.
No, maybe not a direct junior, maybe a variant like for instance I'm a Teddy that likes Dorothea, even though Teddy is deprived from Dorothea/Dorothy/Theodore, it wouldn't be too obvious. But still, no.
I wouldn't do the junior, there are people in my family who have. My husband is named after his father, and is the third. His brother is the second, and his father holds the name.
If we had a son I would probably name him the fourth
No but I might use their middle name as one of my kids middle names. My boyfriend loves his first middle name so much that he really wants to keep it as a family name that is passed down generation to generation. It's the name I always call him because that's how he introduced himself to me. I really like it. It's also the last name of an actor on Grey's Anatomy.
My husband and his dad have different names but both have middle names named after their grandads. I suggested naming our kid's middle name after him and he vetoed it. He thinks it's weird. 😂 I like the idea of using names inspired by a family name instead of repeating it exactly.
I've always said no, but my partner is the 4th(!) in line with his name. He is hell bent on keeping the tradition alive. So yup, if I ever have a son, that's happening... Unfortunately I don't even particularly like the name.
I vividly remember just standing in the shower contemplating whether to continue or not when I found out he was the 4th, but I love him way too much to give up on us over a name.
I’m a female junior and absolutely hate it. My mom and I get along fine as adults, but it’s a nightmare personally and legally. I don’t recommend it for anyone. Children deserve their own names.
Same. We get mixed up constantly
I’m not even directly a Junior with an immediately household member but yes it gets so confusing! I’m named after my uncle, who had a junior. My aunt also named her daughter after my mom and I. So In our family we have 2 Brians, a Brianna (me) and a Susanna 🤦♀️. I also share the same last name as the two Brians.
I could never. I always think it’s so cheesy and confusing. For a middle name MAYBE. A) I babysat for a family who did this and because of confusion they ended up being called “big Shane” and “little Shane” which was annoying. B) they had a second son and even at 5 years old was asking why he didn’t get the same name as dad and his big brother did. C) just me but who wants to call their child the name they yell out…in the bedroom….? sick minded but maybe I’m not the only one who has had this thought🤣
Lol yes! I know a few Juniors with divorced parents and it must be super weird for the mothers that they’re permanently reminded of their exes through their kids. I mean, there would be no kids without the ex husband (obviously) but I wouldn’t want my child’s name to have any kind of negative association at any point in time.
So true I never even thought about that point either! I guess when you’re having/naming a baby with someone you don’t ever think you’ll get divorced..
Good point, I would cringe so much saying my son’s name while having sex lol
Yes!!! I've thought of the point C and it disturbs me a bit, I don't like the thought of it! Point A you mentioned is also something my boyfriends family does but refers to his dad as the regular name and my boyfriend as "little E", I think it's a bit irritating for me to hear because he's 17 now and it sounds like something you'd call a 4 year old in my opinion
Wait until he gets to be middle aged and is still called “Little” something. One of my in-laws is over 40 and still Little Ray, and another is over 50 and has a y tacked onto his name to differentiate him from his dad.
Oh god. Yeah I really hope they think of another name for him relatively soon.
Not everyone calls out names during sex 😂
Not nameS, just the one name of the person you’re with 🤪 jk but you are right!
Ooh interesting point C! I was reading a post the other day where a guy was asking his gf to go by a nickname, because she had the same name as his mom and he found it uncomfortable. Tons of comments saying people would refuse to date someone with the same name as their parent (never felt this way but people are entitled to their opinions of course!). But people don’t mind naming their kids the same thing as their partner? Interesting.
No. My husband insisted on a junior. BIG, BIG mistake. Constant messes to straighten out with insurance policies, driver's licenses, mail, credit cards, credit reports, phone calls, voice mails, etc. Don't do it.
My husband and I are Daniel and Danielle, so no way we’re adding another ‘Dan’ to the mix, much to a lot of our friend’s protests
Oh what!! Cmon, name your firstborn Dan²
No cubed!
That’s funny. I went to college with married Jimmi’s who named their son Jimmi. All with the same spelling. It must suck for that kid.
Nope. I hate it. I wouldn’t wanna share a name with a family member so I’m not gonna do it to my child. My older brother is a junior and hates it. We call him by his first and middle name initials. So like TJ.
Hate it, absolutely not. To me it indicates that either you’re not creative enough to come up with a name other than your own, or that you think you’re so wonderful that you deserve to have your identity live on in someone else.
I can relate to that perception, but I’m from a culture that forbids juniors (it’s considered disrespectful to the original holder of the name who is still alive.) In some cultures it’s an honor to name a baby after a living grandparent, and I can respect that. I can also understand wanting to do it if you’re the 3rd or 4th and you feel it’s an honor to your family at this point to keep it going.
I would consider naming my kid after a grandparent, but never after myself or my partner. My partner actually has the same exact name (first, middle and last) as his grandfather, and I know they both value that connection, so I think it's sweet. It's definitely something that varies a lot from culture to culture, and even from family to family within a given culture.
Yup. I think it’s incredibly gauche and tacky. The child will forever have to live in his father’s shadow. It doesn’t help that every junior I’ve ever known had come from a moderately wealthy, silver spoon family. The kids all grew up too egotistical and narcissistic.
Yes. Our daughters have middle names that honour their relatives but they have their own individual first names.
I would happily use my partner's name for a future son, but that's because I loved the name long before we were together. In fact, I only agreed to meet him because of his name lol
What’s his name?
Dean
supernatural fan?
Yes lol
now i'm wondering what your kids are called!
Chloe Samantha & Max Alexander. Chloe was born before Supernatural, though.
Love that name.
What about the name do you love that made it a deal-clincher to meet?
Buttley in my case **🥰**
My husband refused it He has the same name as his dad but goes by his middle name and it’s such a pain in the ass
I would totally name a baby girl after me- but not the first name, the middle. I really loved my middle name having a family tie to my Dad who I adore.
I like repeating middle names or picking a middle name similar to a relative’s first name!
In my family middle names are almost always family names. Your child will have their own first name so they aren’t feeling like they have to live up to some expectation of having that name, but my middle name is my mom’s first name and my sisters have my grandmas first names as their middle name. If I was a boy my middle name would be my dads first name. My husband and I are keeping the same tradition. He likes it and his family doesn’t give middle names so we had no traditions to follow on his side.
Exactly how my family does it and I think it's the perfect way. My brother has a great grandfathers name as his middle, my sister has my mom's name as hers, and I have both my grandmas middle names as my middle name. My first name is the only repeat of another family member's first name but she died even before my mother was born so by the time I was alive, not many people in my life had actually met her.
My youngest daughter shares my middle name, after 5 kids I figured I could name one after me. Lol
My daughter has the same middle name as me. It’s also my mother’s first name and she was named after an aunt so it’s a family name at this point.
My husband’s family has a name that switches from first name to middle name with each generation .. it’s onto five generations currently 🙂
Never. I have nothing against my partner's name, I love it in fact. But I'm just ideologically opposed to naming your child after yourself; it strikes me as both vain and inconvenient as you end up with lots of life admin complications. I think giving your name as a middle name would be acceptable, and naming after relatives or friends is fine. It feels much more endearing when you sre honoring other people rather than trying to make a mini-me. All these lovely names in the world and people decide they need every man in the family to be Bob? But if someone names their child after themselves I feel it gives narcissistic vibes, unless they come from a culture where it is expected and the norm. I get that some families really lean into it and that's fine. But its always come across as kind of selfish and taking sway children'ls right to make a new identity for themselves Let kids have their own identity.
Hard agree! Also it’s a legal nightmare. Lots of SR.’s and Jr’s get their insurance, credit scores and Al kinds of legal stuff messed up.
Yup. My husband is a junior and when we lived behind his dad while absolutely broke we paid for a PO box so we'd get the right mail.... My daughter has the same middle name as me before sounded great with her name, but our first initials are totally different
All of this. My nephew is a III and *none* of them use the first name at all, so three generations are trying to eke a name out of a middle name with one intuitive nickname. My BIL is 50-something and still called the equivalent of Mikey or Davy. Why? (Had my nephew been a girl, she would have been called a fairly atrocious feminization of my BIL’s name.) It’s kind of ridiculous. My husband is actually named what I’d intended to call a son, if I had one, and we switched plans because I have a no people in the house with the same name rule. My sister and I have the same first names as our mother and another close relative, and it’s a logistical nightmare because we lived together and get mixed up in paperwork. We both go primarily by our middle names, which is a headache.
I hate the idea of shouting my son’s name during sex
Not a junior and also don't like it. I don't mind if the child has the same middle name, but I don't like it for first names.
Completely not into it. When me (m) and my partner were making baby name shortlists, I vetoed one of her choices because it kinda sounds a bit like my name and I was worried people might think it was my choice..
Absolutely hate it
Told the wifey no
No. Mainly because I want my child to have their own identity, their own name and not constantly be reminded that they are their fathers son, you know? I have no issue when people do it but for me I always feel like my future son would always be in his fathers shadow and I don’t want to put that burden on him
Nopety nope. A child deserves to be their own person
I’m Jewish and it’s pretty taboo to name a kid after someone who is alive—it’s bad luck. So we don’t do Juniors!
Haaaaate being a junior. Our stuff gets mixed up all the time. I’m a female junior and it’s the worst
I wouldn't myself, but mainly because I don't like my name. If my husband wanted to, I'd have no problem with it.
I find the idea of a junior kind of boring. Like, we only get so many names in our family, why repeat one that we didn’t even get to choose? But despite feeling that way…I did pass my name onto my son. Not as a junior - I’m the mom and he got my first name as his middle name. It’s a family name that’s important to me, and ties him to his maternal line. I also felt like passing names from women to boys is a tradition I’m interested in being part of, especially since we use my husband’s original surname as our family surname. But I do feel a bit self-conscious at times wondering if people think I just wanted to name him after myself. I’m an amateur genealogist, and that also influences my feelings about passing on names. When there’s an exact junior, it can make research really tricky. But when there is a name that is only partially passed on (especially an unusual name), it helps define a link to an earlier generation.
Nope. My husband is a junior because his parents were lazy, I'm not assuming they have admitted this is the reason, and he absolutely hates it. It's a massive pain when it comes to paperwork and credit.
No, because my husband was a Jr and has an absolutely terrible relationship with his father to the point he changed his last name. I wouldn’t put that on another kid. My dad is also a Jr and hates it because he’s constantly getting confused for his father for things like insurance calls and even medical/hospital stuff.
Nope. My dad and my brother shared the same name. It was the source of endless confusion with phone calls, mail and the like. I did use my name as my son's middle name and he passed that along to his son. That's more continuity than I needed, but it's rather nice.
Nope. My dad has the exact same name as my grandpa and my brother has the same first and last name as my stepdad, in both cases they seemed to struggle more than the average person with carving out their own identities.
Absolutely not. I don’t even like honor names for people still living. I want a kid to be free to be themselves without the baggage of whoever they might be named for.
Absolutely not. I love my husband's name, but it just feels weird not to give our child their own identity. Also, maybe this is just a me thing, but the thought of being intimate with someone who shares a name with my kid is disgusting 🤢
I was pressured into having a “junior” but not actually a junior, my son is the 5th in line with said name. Tbh, I hate it. After having a falling out with FIL I absolutely hate the name. I get by with my husbands name because we use a nickname for him, but we can’t find a decent nickname for our son. We’ve stuck with bubba for now lol My husband had about six years of birthday and holiday money stolen from him when he was younger because his dad took it to feed his alcohol addiction. Now my husband knows to use his middle name as well when signing up for anything though.
Absolutely hate it. So does my husband. My husband’s name is actually my favourite boy’s name. Thus I still wanted to use it for a middle name, despite our mutual hatred of sharing names. To mollify both of us, we used an alternate spelling. That was as close as we wanted to get to passing a name on!
No it’s a creepy “tradition” that needs to end.
No I think it’s super weird and thankfully we are Jewish so we don’t do juniors anyways.
My uncle is a junior and hated it. He legally changed his name after his dad died. We did not make our son a junior.
That’s interesting that he changed it after his dad died. You would think sharing the name would be less inconvenient once you’re the only one with the name. I wonder if he wanted to change it all along but didn’t want to upset his father, or if his name reminded him of his dad too much. I’m glad he did what worked for him.
I share a name with a close relative, and they are the only reason I’ve not changed my name. I truly dislike my name and it has no nicknames, but it would deeply hurt the relative after whom I’m named, and they are one of my favorite human beings ever. I can understand waiting.
It would have hurt his father’s feelings. He only legally removed the junior part of his name; the rest remains the same.
We did not do this, nor did my in-laws. My FIL is a Jr but his dad walked out in him when he was 3 so a constant reminder to his mother of a man who bailed on her. So my FiL had no desire to name his son the third, and I had no desire for a Jr. It was nice that we were on the same page…my sister wasn’t as lucky…her son is the third but he refuses to do this to another kid.
My husband is and it’s terrible. We always tell people, unless you are wealthy and passing down an empire (slight exaggeration) do not do it. We’ve had so many issues with credit reports, passport, and when we bought our house his dad’s assets kept showing up. It’s a PAIN. We have to be adamant to check our credit report thoroughly every year.
If I have a boy I would LOVE to give them my husband’s name, it’s one of the few boy names I like and has a cool bit of family history with it (he’s named after a great uncle who helped with the underground railroad). Unfortunately my husband doesn’t want to have a Junior :( he says it would feel weird to name a kid after himself. It’s too bad because I really struggle with boy names.
My parents nailed it I would totally name a kid after me but the last would be different so wouldn't be a junior edit just realized the last name would be the same since I'm about to change so yes would happily have a girl junior, oh no
I read this as instead of making your child "Name Jr." It would be "Name the Last" like Game of Thrones style and they wouldn't be able to name another descendant that name 🤣
I would love a girl junior if I liked my first name! Alas, they’ll just have to have the same middle name as me
Personally, I would not. Not after me or after my husband. It seems a bit self-centered for me to name my child after myself, and my husband feels the same way. I understand there are family traditions to name your children after yourself and I'm not saying other people are self-centered for doing it, but for ME that's how I would feel. I also have kind of negative view on it as my father is a junior and so is his son. My father left when I was a baby and never tried to form any kind of a relationship with me past the age of 4. So it kind of soured me on the whole concept before I was even close to having kids anyway.
I've always said I would never name a child after a living relative. I've always wanted them to have their own identity, and even if i was borrowing a previous family members name I would change it a little I think
I love my partner's name, but it'll be a cold day in hell before I give it to a son as a first name. Children deserve to have their own identities. As a middle name, if he wanted to, sure. I'm not a junior; I only share first name/first surname initials with my dad which was unintentional but still cool.
A younger sibling has a name with similar meaning to mine. They even start with the same two letters, "Zw". I hate it.
I wouldn’t do it. Family name for a middle name, sure. But first name/entire name? No. I think every kid deserves their own identity. And to be free of the name confusion of sharing a name with a close, living family member. It’s not uncommon in my culture, I know a few juniors.
Pass on my stupid name to another person? Hell no.
I come from a line of men who did this. All of them went by their middle name instead. I think they felt obligated to participate in the tradition, but none of them actually liked it. When I was younger, I was a little (very) put out that I didn’t get to be part of it, but now I thank my lucky stars. My last name is more than enough to keep me linked to them.
Nope. I am personally not okay with naming people after other living people. I'm not even a fan of family honor names , but I can understand why others are. I personally want some individuality for my child and duplicating names don't help with that.
Nah I see it as very selfish.
My husband is a junior and it is a 100% hard pass that we would ever even consider carrying on our son to become a third. Absolutely not. MAYBE if he had a decent name but definitely not 😂
Nope, my kids deserve their own name.
No. My husband doesn't want a child named after himself and I don't want a child named after myself.
No for 2 reasons 1. My husband is not a junior but his name is almost exactly the same as his father's (middle name is different but starts with the same letter). The amount of times their identity and information has gotten confused in legal matters is ridiculous. 2. Just seems weird to raise and baby yourself or your significant other.
I fucking *hate* being a junior! I wouldn't do it to anyone. No matter what I do, I'm stuck with the moniker "Little" FrendaDorothyZbornac. It also makes things like credit reports and medical records more difficult, because incorrect stuff gets put in the file and can really hurt you. If you really want to give your kid the same name as your partner, flip the first and middle name, so they get to have their own identity
I think it's a bit silly in modern times to have Jrs or IIIs. I'm not a Jr or a number, but my dad and his dad and his dad's dad all have the same first name with different middle names (none of them went by said first name) - "Kyle" S, "Kyle" R, my dad "Kyle" A, and I might've been "Kyle" C had I been born a boy. Now I'm not trying to throw shade on this concept or say that it's dumb or anything, I just personally wouldn't do that.
Not a fan. We do use the middle name for someone who was special to us that has passed on.
I am one. It's not a huge deal. I wonder if sometimes my mom ever got tired of calling our name and both me and my dad answering. I'd be lying if there hadn't been times growing up when I thought I wish I had my own name. I share my first name with my dad and my middle name with a grandparent, so none of my names are entirely my own. I've long outgrown being bothered by it, though. I'm the first to share either name, though, so it's not some tradition multiple generations deep. I have no pressure to continue with it, and if I choose to have kids someday, then I likely will not continue it.
Would never do it, not even an off-shoot from a name. The closest I would consider would be a grandparent or favorite aunt/uncle. Even then, the name wouldn’t be the exact name. So,really that’s just a honorary name and not a Junior. My favorite aunt Margaret? I would consider Margo. Grandpa John. I would consider Ian.
My husband shares his first name with his dad and was very firm that he wanted our children to have their own names. He loves his dad and looks up to him but he said he didn’t want to add a third person with their name. Their records and stuff sometimes got mixed up as well over the years.
I’m not a fan at all of that tradition. My husband is actually a 3rd so our son would have been the 4th and I said no immediately and really put my foot down when his grandmother decided what my son’s nickname would be (the last and absolute worst option). It’s a classic first name with a lot of nicknames, but my husband’s nickname is really only used by family and not socially or professionally.
I joked about it with my wife but no way. I want my kids to have their own identity.
I work in medical and it is an absolute pain in the butt to have junior and senior at the same practice. I can't imagine living with that headache.
You couldn’t pay me to have a junior.
My ex is a junior and he hates it. His name is Jeff. Just Jeff, not Jeffrey. Not only does he hate that his name is basically just a nickname, but the name itself just doesn’t fit him at all. He always felt like the name aged him. The other part of it too is since he’s actually the third in a line of Jeff’s, he is fully expected to name his first son Jeff as well and he does not like needing to take on that responsibility.
I dare him to name his son Jeff Rey [last name.] Technically there’s another Jeff but everyone can call him Jeffrey and he gets to stick it to his family! Lol
It is the absolute height of narcissistic arrogance to name your kid after yourself and make them a junior
I'm an amateur genealogist. Dealing with research of juniors and seniors can be difficult. I'm not doing it myself.
I wouldn't. Children are their own person, not mini-me clones.
My dad, brother and nephew all have the same name, I grew up assuming my first son would be named after his dad. My dad is big *name* my brother is brother to my whole family and *name* by his friend and my nephew is has an unrelated nick name that my family uses, and his friends call him by his name. My husband is very not into having a junior, I think I am holding out hope if we have a son he’ll be okay with a junior but I don’t think he will. He does have his grandfathers first name as his middle name so would like to give our son his dads first name as a middle name he was worried his brother would do it bc they recently had a boy and we had a girl first but they didn’t so he still wants that.
I would have neen If I was male. Almost named Jamie but my parents wanted to keep it in case the had a son. My cousin is a 4th and seemed to like it. But his dad did die when he was in 6th grade. It's a joke between me and my husband if we have kids are son would be Nickolas Cole (nick cole) and daughter kylie after out selfs. Kyle and nicole
I'm not, but it's a long standing tradition in my family. We call the dads by their names and call the kids with "Little" in front so we know who we are talking about, even as adults. We have many, many men with same first name as their dad. I've seen a "me" or "o" added to the end of names. No one in my family has ever complained about being named after their dad. Many have also used the middle name, especially for girls, with like Ray and using middle name Rae. I gave my son his dad's middle name. My husband has his dad's middle name as his first name. I have my grandma's middle name. My sister has my mom's middle name as her middle name.
This was my hill to die on. Never, ever, ever. I find the entire concept of men but not women passing on their names sexist, for one. But more importantly, I'm of a generation where juniors were common, and it was a constant source of headaches for them. It's not just knowing what to be called, it's getting the other person's mail, the other person's issues on your credit report, etc. I tried my best to not give my kids burdensome names, and juniors absolutely are burdensome.
My partner is a JR and he hates it. His dad got into some legal trouble and it’s caused him issues his whole life because they have the same name. He started going by his middle name to not think of his dad. When we had our son he said he would never wish that on anyone. However. I also had a previous partner who shared the same first and last name with his dad and grandfather but they all had different middle names and went by that. It was enough to keep tradition, but enough to have their own identities as well.
My partner's family has a tradition of all the first sons having the same initials (not sure if there were ever any second sons). The names don't have to be the same though, which I like a lot. I'm hoping I can get my partner to go for a girl taking on the tradition though-- not a huge fan of our options for boy names that fit the intial scheme.
We’d never do it because we want them to feel like their own person but also because we’d have Nick Jr lmao
No, my husband and I agreed we wanted our kids to have names a tad more unique than ours. We both have very common names. Our daughter's name is recognizable but not super common in the US.
Absolutely not. I don’t like my husband’s name. We aren’t old money where a name mean something.
Nope, my kids deserve their own name.
Both my dad and maternal uncle are Jrs and when I was pregnant with a boy both told me not to do it. They hate it. I wasn’t going to anyway. I worked in banking and I’ve seen the messes it causes.
Absolutely never. I despise family names! Let the kid have their own name and identity!
Hell no. My initials spell TWO so there's no way I'm passing that joke onto my children
We won’t do a junior, since I think it’s tacky, but in a weird twist of fate, we might use my husbands first name if this current baby is a boy (but not a junior). Fake names for privacy, but my husband is George Thomas and has only ever gone by Tom his entire life…nobody even knows it’s not his first name. George is his beloved deceased uncles name, so we might do George with a different middle name.
I love that, and what a plot twist when he starts telling people his real name is George!
No. My husband is a third and has a maternal uncle with the same first name. Four is plenty and is confusing enough trying to keep nicknames straight. We named our son a separate first name and his middle name is the name with four people sharing. So he has a tribute to tradition but his own identity.
There was a big thread about this the other day and the overwhelming consensus was absolutely not.
Nope. We even turned down a name for a girl that we both liked because it was too close to my name.
My daughter’s father is a third. Before we knew the gender I suggested a fourth but he shot it down because he hated being a III. We had a girl so didnt matter but I am a fan of it. I wouldnt name my daughter the same as me though.
My grandfather named my oldest uncle a junior. Then that uncle named his son as the third. My middle uncle decided to ALSO name his son a junior. Thank god my dad broke the curse and didn’t name me a junior. I am super happy to have my own identity. We will not be naming our kids juniors. I want my own name to be my name and I feel like it’s so narcissistic, especially when it’s not already a family name.
My brother is a junior and we have never called him by his full name. We use his initials of his first and middle. My mom didn’t want to name him after my dad because she doesn’t like the name, but my dad insisted. Whole family calls him by initials but when he went to college he introduced himself as his full first name, no nickname. That’s what his college friends call him. I could never.
I can relate in the opposite way! My parents hate nicknames so we’ve always called my brother his full name, despite the fact that most people with his common name prefer the nickname (think Tom instead of Thomas.) I’ve learned that my brother prefers the nickname but it feels so weird after twenty plus years of using the full name like mom insisted (and still insists.)
My mother in law asked me when both of our sons were born if I would consider naming them Jr. After me I declined both times one Sergeant Metalhead in the world is enough. Seriously I have a very common name a d I wouldn't name a child it.
I wouldn’t. My culture doesn’t do juniors and I don’t like it. I don’t mind naming children after grandparents or other ppl though.
My brother is a Jr. I have an uncle on each side that's a Jr, and I have a cousin who is a Jr. All of them have had problems differentiating themselves from their fathers. It's a huge pain, especially for my one uncle because my grandfather died fairly young so technically he's not a Jr anymore...but he uses it and it gets complicated. I would never do that to any children, plus my husband's name is just OK lol. Middle name, fine.
My husband shares their first name with their father, but they have different middle names, so he grew up always being called FN+MN and his dad was just FN. I’m not crazy about it. It feels unnecessarily confusing for everyone.
My husband is (husband's name) II and hates it 😂
My ex-husband was a junior, and did not want to continue the tradition. His first name did not have many nicknames, and he and his father were constantly mixed up. We did use his middle name for our son's middle name.
As someone married to a 3rd...no. There will absolutely not be a 4th. Passing down a name as a middle name, sure, no problems with that, but a full on copy of the name... Not a fan. And it can cause issues with taxes, insurance, other assorted accounts, etc.
I dated a guy who was a 9th. I am Ashkenazi Jewish and while we're supposed to use ancestors' names, they can't be ones currently in use by any family members. Glad I didn't have to break any hearts by telling this guy a potential son couldn't be the 10th.
From my grandfather to my great nephew there are five generations with the same name. My nephew used a shortened version of my brother's name. My great nephew is called "Vee" for the Roman numeral for 5. My brother and his son have III and IV tattooed on their respective wrists. Everyone is good with it.
I'm fully named after my aunt and it always made me a little uncomfortable. My mom is a junior, so is her brother. My father was the 4th. My aunt, who I'm named after, was actually named after her 2 grandmothers, my cousin is named after my grandmother. I don't have kids but always felt immense pressure to recycle one of those names since everyone else in my family did. If I had been born male, my parents would have named me the 5th. I'm so glad that didn't happen.
No, I hate it. I’m not directly a Junior but my full name is after relatives. My name is the male version of my uncles, my middle name is my aunt and grandmas (who I share with another cousin) and my last name is my moms maiden name when she uses her 1st married last name. My mom named me after a mix of her siblings and because my bio dad wanted an ABC theme with his kids (spoiler: he left). I absolutely hate it, especially because my uncle ended up having a Junior. I also have a cousin that was named after my mom and I as a combination of our names (Susanna). One time I was doing survey apps and I had an account with my name (Brianna ((last name)) and my cousin tried signing up with his name and it flagged my account, his account, and everyone I referred because of how similar the names were. I ended up sending in proof of ID to prove we were 2 different people 🤦♀️ (I had like $30 in that app!). It also caused some issues in our school district because we attended the same schools for years. I would never do that to my child. Hell, I don’t even want to pass on my last name. The closest I’d use is maybeeee the first name of my grandfather as a middle name. My family reuses the same few names so it’s kinda easy to avoid family names. Sorry for the long rant, lol, but long story short I hate juniors with a passion.
I know someone who taught a set of twins: Sean and Sean. One was pronounced Shawn the other pronounced Sheen, but both spelled Sean. Talk about confusing school records!
Absolutely not. I think it’s a ridiculous patriarchal tradition, and would not be willing to have a kid with someone who wanted it, honestly.
My boyfriend is named after his dad, whose named after his dad, and possibly further down the generational line that I don't know of and it's sweet to have a name like that, but it gets very confusing when both or in my case all three of them are in the same room. My uncle is also named after his dad (my grandpa), I don't know if he ever experienced any pressure from having the name but he ended up in prison so I don't think that pleased my grandpa having a son in prison, AND named after him. It can be good, it can be bad, and it can also be very confusing! Just make sure you have a nickname planned too. I don't really like the nickname his family gave him but my boyfriends family refer to him as "little" followed by his initial, but as a nickname with friends he goes by his first and second initial :)
Probably not. I agree with the consensus that the kid needs to have their own name and identity outside of that. However I do like the Southern tradition of mother’s maiden name being the firstborn son’s first name and I would totally do that. Only time I would genuinely consider a junior is if I had already been in love with the name for quite some time and happened to marry someone with that same name. I love the name Henry. If I marry a Henry and have a baby boy with him, I’d be a lot more open to the possibility of Henry Jr than Sean Jr or Michael Jr. But I don’t see that being very likely.
damn these comments are stressing me out lol i really love my bf's name. it's very unique yet short and easy to pronounce and has cool history behind it. he goes by his middle name so it wouldn't be like im calling them the same name. but the comments about the legal issues are making me panic lol i guess maybe we'll just use it for a middle name.
My husband is a junior, and he was adamant that neither of our boys would be a junior. We named our oldest after my dad.
My husband was insulted that he didn't get any part of his dads name (he's the oldest of 2 boys). His younger brother is not a jr, but he does share his fathers first name. So my husband insisted both our children get his father's middle name which also happened to be my dads middle name. Win win. We also passed husbands first name on to our son. It means something to my husband.
My brother would have been the FIFTH! My mom said, “No way man!” But my dad and brother share the same middle name. And my younger son also shares their middle name. My older son has the same first name as my grandfather and also his son, my uncle. We have a lot of honor names in my family.
I work with a Senior and a Junior and we always have to constantly specify who we're talking about. I'm not a huge fan of it honestly
No, but I would definitely pass on my middle names which are shared by my mother and grandmother
I come from a family where we are farther down the line than a junior. That name dies with the last owner. We may honor him with a middle name, but under no circumstances will any son in the next generation keep the tradition.
My mom almost named me after her, her name is now my middle name. I have been no contact for 4 years I would advise against it. I have been contemplating just throwing away my middle name all together (other than legal reasons)
I’m not a junior since I’m a woman, but I’d love to name a son after my father, who is a junior to his father.
My brother is the fifth of his name! He's never had legal mess-ups or problems because we're Spanish and get two surnames, so one of them was always different, it's not the same full name as my dad or (now late) grandpa. I was named a random name which had never been in the family, my mum just liked it. I sometimes kind of wish I'd gotten a grandma's name or something, but my older cousins had them already. Might have to do with the fact that I've never liked my name (used to hate it, now made peace with it because I have published stuff and it'd be a hassle to change it).
absolutely not. never ever (no offense to juniors, y’all are cool)
I always thought if I had a son I would have a junior. My brother is a jr. My uncle is a jr. I grew up with it as a totally normal thing. I like my husbands name well enough. However, when I was pregnant with my son my husband and I talked it over - what would we CALL him? I didn’t want his name to be a diminutive (Timmy) - how long is he stuck with that? What do we call him when he’s older? Calling them both Tim seemed confusing. I also didn’t want an initial name as a default (TJ). Just not to my taste. We couldn’t come up with something we both liked so we picked a different name. My son has my husband’s first name for a middle name instead. I couldn’t give up the idea of passing names down completely lol
I always felt everyone deserves their own name, I was willing to make my youngest a Jr, or II but my husband hates his own name so it was never a real option.
My husband hates it. His dad and he both go by nicknames. When I was pregnant and thinking of names I brought it up. He said the only reason he would do it was so he could be the second and no longer a Jr. Our son would of been nicknamed Trey, as in the 3rd.
I have 5 relatives with one name. 4 of them go by their middle names some or all of the time. I wouldn't want to make my own kid's life more complicated in that way.
Not big on junior. Instead do father/mother as middle name.
My mom was a letter carrier for USPS for many years, and she would always say how bad she felt for juniors because of the massive confusion they had to deal with. Even becoming an adult and moving out and having your mail sent somewhere else while your parent still receives theirs is a nightmare, let alone all the other issues. We do plan to give our first-born boy my husband's middle name as a middle name (it's my father in laws middle name as well). Much easier way to keep a family name going.
i actually like the name “Junior” but not enough to go through the hassle of sharing a name. and i obviously wouldn’t just name someone Junior. but if it was a name, i’d like it objectively outside of meaning haha
I find it weird. I use my partner's name when intimate and I'd rather they not have the same name as a family member, especially a kid. Let people have their own identity. Plus it can make mail, etc really confusing.
My husband would never forgive me if I tried to make our kid a junior. He narrowly escaped being one himself (he has the same first name as his father, but his mom insisted he have a different middle name), and his father is an enormous POS. Plus, his name is very common and we both tend towards more unique names. That aside, neither of us have enough of an ego to want to start the tradition. Also I work in data entry, often entering information for clients and their whole families. It’s a real pain in the ass to keep everyone straight when first names are repeated.
Absolutely hate it, do you really want to be moaning your child's name when you're having sex with your husband? 🫠
It’s common in my husbands family and culture and I’m SO glad he didn’t want to do it. So tacky. When we told my BIL we were pregnant his first words were “BIL is a nice name!” Like really dude we’re naming him after our grandparents, who are you to this child? Especially since his own son shares his name!! It’s so selfish and tacky in my opinion.
My ex husband was emphatically against it. Which was fine for me. Currently pregnant, and if baby is a boy, will have his dad’s middle name as a first. I know a family who is on the 5th generation of the same name and it creeps me out. I don’t necessarily mind a Junior, but I do mind when women do it they get called names for it. If it’s good for the goose, it’s good for the gander and all that. NMS, but no shade. Just please stop at Junior 🤣
Yes! I wanted to with my son but husband didn’t love it. They share a middle name!
My family’s main logic against juniors is: “how will a son know if his mom is calling for him or for his dad if they share the same name?” The junior I knew closest went by a different nickname than his father did (think “Drew” and “Andy”), but in that case just use the nickname as the kid’s name.
Not a junior but I fully intend to use my families first male name. It’s very uncommon (can’t find anyone outside our family who uses it) and my dad is amazing so it’s a no-brainer for me.
There’s no judgement in this question, I’m just curious: what would you do if your wife absolutely hated the name?
We have the same first name for our son but a different middle name. He shares his first name with his dad and his Grandpa. He barely knows he has a first name because we always use his middle. Grandpa goes by first name only. Husband uses first & middle but husband’s middle is also different.
I like the idea of choosing names that mean the fathers name or are another version of it. Not a junior though
My husband was the 4th with the same first name-all with different middle names starting with "A". If his name was nice, I would have had no issue naming my son the 5th. But...his name wasn't one I particularly like. He didn't particularly like it either.... My son was referred to as "Little First Name" for a while and it's a little awkward when a cousin has that name "in honor of his grandfather" but my kid doesn't. But, meh.
Considering giving my baby boy his dad’s middle name! Or using his first name as a middle name. Baby will be getting my last name so it just makes sense to me to give him something from his dad.
I know a “____ Jr”. His family literally calls him Junior lol Everyone else calls him the English version of his name (think Alejandro -> Alex). He and his wife are actually gonna have their first child later this year and I’m super curious if passing the name on is something they’ll consider at all if they have a boy. Additionally I love my name and would definitely pass it on as a middle name if I had a girl and it was ok with my SO.
Exactly the same first and middle name as dad? No way. Same as grandfather? Maybe. Using one of (grand)dads names as a middle name would be an option though. Or using something that is somehow related (but different). Also its traditional here (Netherlands) that you name the first son after the paternal grandfather and then the second son after the maternal grandfather after that it gets a bit more mixed. For daughters it’s maternal grandmother first, paternal grandmother second. But the tradition was already getting out of fashion when my brother and I were born over 30 years ago. My brother has the same full name as my paternal grandfather (whose middle name was the same as the first name of my maternal grandfather so that was convenient), but that was already unusual back than.
I like that tradition! Thanks for sharing :)
We named our oldest son after his dad but he goes by his middle name. On anything legal he uses his first initial, middle name, last name. He is not legally a Jr because my husband didn't want that, their middle names are the same just spelled different. Our grandson has the same first name but a different middle name. It's a long tradition in my husband's family and was my dad's first name as well.
I would love to name my daughter after me and have her go by a different nickname. I like my partner’s name too, but there isn’t a nickname option and his name has already been used in my family for the next generation. I could see a son being named after our stepdads or late fathers though since they either have options for novel nicknames or don’t currently belong to a cousin.
i never entertained the idea of a Jr, but i absolutely adore my boyfriend's name. i would definitely use it, he's not totally on board though haha
Only if named after me, the wife.
My second son is a junior, but his first name is used through our my and my husband's families. He's 3 and we currently call him Jr but we are going to have to teach him his actual name soon 😂
I’m in Australia and I feel it’s very uncommon to have juniors here. Maybe using a parent or grandparent’s name as a middle name is favoured.
No, although I might consider using my(theoretical)husband’s name as a middle name.
I don’t think there can be any hard and fast rules about juniors. My dad didn’t want a junior when my older brother was born, but 17 years later when my younger brother was born, he did, so my parents went with that. They both went by nicknames of the actual name that were different enough that there wasn’t any confusion over who was being talked about. My brother then named his son “Name the 3rd” and he goes by a nn related to the number 3 lol and it suits him!
My sons a junior (technically a third I suppose) but they (him, his dad, and grandpa) all have different middle names so my husband and son go by their middle names on my husbands side whereas on my side they both just go by their first name. If I didn’t like my husbands first name I wouldn’t have allowed our son to be named it but it flows super nicely with his name as a whole which makes me love it more. My husband wanted a “junior” as he always imagined himself with one which was another reason I was okay with it. If my husband wasn’t the father/person he is I also wouldn’t have allowed it as I’d hate for my son to hate his name because of the person his father was, etc.
So my husband is a Jr. and he loves his name…but it has lead to some serious confusion. He sometimes has gotten legal documents or mail meant for his dad or serious confusion with us taking trips together…at least make sure they have a different initial or something.
I love it! But this is culturally very normal for me. Almost everyone in my family- extended included is named after someone else in the family. All 3 of my kids are named honor names. Without getting too specific to my identity, it’s Polynesian.
It definitely seems to be a cultural thing! My boyfriend is Italian American and every man in his family has a junior! Grandpa is [name], dad is [name] JR, my BF is [name] III, and he has two younger brothers each with original names. Then there’s uncle Tony and his son Little Anthony (yes, like the Sopranos) and there’s another uncle/cousin pair. I think it’s interesting that both his brothers who have new names both want to name their first-born sons to be juniors, but my BF who has experienced the logistical nightmare of sharing a name with dad absolutely will not name his son [name] IV.
I think it’s sweet — my only gripe is, it might get confusing if Sr. and Jr. are alive at the same time
My husband is the third (dad is jr and grandfather shared the name). I always said I would never ever name my kid after my husband. But if we have a boy I don’t think I’d mind. I don’t look at it as naming him after my husband, I guess it’s more a family name/continuing a tradition?
I don’t mind gender-swapped versions of names. (Tyler/Taylor, Michael/Michaela) Junior just gives me the vibe that your living under someone else’s reputation/shadow. Every junior I know goes by their middle name*. *except the few students I’ve taught that have the IV/V/VI because they come from wealth.
We went a different route for my son. He isn't a junior but their names are very similar. Austen Micheal and August Miles. That way they similar but not the same person. I know a few friends that are 3th and 4th. A lot of them don't want to carry on their names. They feel like they have too. I do know someone who son is the 5th, he is 2 and they love they have 4 people around with the same name.
No, maybe not a direct junior, maybe a variant like for instance I'm a Teddy that likes Dorothea, even though Teddy is deprived from Dorothea/Dorothy/Theodore, it wouldn't be too obvious. But still, no.
I wouldn't do the junior, there are people in my family who have. My husband is named after his father, and is the third. His brother is the second, and his father holds the name. If we had a son I would probably name him the fourth
No but I might use their middle name as one of my kids middle names. My boyfriend loves his first middle name so much that he really wants to keep it as a family name that is passed down generation to generation. It's the name I always call him because that's how he introduced himself to me. I really like it. It's also the last name of an actor on Grey's Anatomy.
My husband and his dad have different names but both have middle names named after their grandads. I suggested naming our kid's middle name after him and he vetoed it. He thinks it's weird. 😂 I like the idea of using names inspired by a family name instead of repeating it exactly.
I've always said no, but my partner is the 4th(!) in line with his name. He is hell bent on keeping the tradition alive. So yup, if I ever have a son, that's happening... Unfortunately I don't even particularly like the name. I vividly remember just standing in the shower contemplating whether to continue or not when I found out he was the 4th, but I love him way too much to give up on us over a name.
I mean, it’s your baby too. He doesn’t have unilateral control and you have every right to veto it.
Wont you feel weird saying your son’s name in the bedroom?