My boyfriend wants our future son to be a junior, after him (future meaning years away, just brainstorming). His biggest reason is that he has a unique name and he thinks it would be cool for the only other person he knows with that name to be his son. I happen to really like his name, and as far as “juniors” go, it wouldn’t be a bad one. But, I have two problems with it. The small one is that I like picking out names too much to use one that his parents had picked out years ago, even though I love the name. The second is that I know it can get confusing with father and son having the same name. I recently heard a story about a man and his elderly father who shared the same name. They owned a house together that the father lived in alone, but the son took care of all the bills and everything else. The mail never went to the right person, and some of the son’s personal mail even went to his father. It just seems too confusing. Anyways, what’s your opinion on this?
I would never do it, it’s so unoriginal. I know a friend whose brother is [name]Harrison[/name] the 5th!!! The 5th! I would hate to share my name with 5 other people while my siblings got unique, original names… That’s just how I would feel.
I don’t think it’s “too confusing”. The situation has been around for Years. People survive it and some are happy enough to do it over and over, through generations. So, it apparently isn’t too bad or the tradition would have ended a long time ago. There are the odd things that happen now and again, but that’s true of lots of things in life. I think it’s probably more confusing for all of the people out there with Horribly misspelled/“creatively” spelled names. Or, for those living in countries where the names/spellings aren’t well known.
It’d be more clear-cut if you or he didn’t like the name. If you didn’t like it, that’s plenty of reason to not do it. But, since you do like it, it’s enough of a reason to consider it. It sounds like it could be an idea that grows on him and that he comes to feel an attachment to. That’s never a bad thing. I see a lot of women complaining about the man’s suggestions (I don’t think that’s what You’re doing), but I always want to point out that it’s a GOOD thing that the (potential) father wants to be so involved.
I actually asked my husband when we were expecting our first, if he’d like to have a [name]Jr[/name]. He didn’t, so it wasn’t something that I had to think about too much. He actually ended up being the one to make the final decision of both of our first boy’s names. And, I was very glad that he cared enough to play an active role in the process. It helped to give him a stronger, pre-established, attachment to [name]Conor[/name]. I was very happy with his choices, and the middle name came from a list that I had come up with, so it wasn’t like I was totally out of the process. This time around, my original fn suggestions ended up being picked, but the middle names were all his choosing, that I happily agreed with.
[name]Don[/name]'t know what your “plans” are, but if you have more than one, you’ll have your opportunity to pick out names. However, there’s really only one chance of him getting to have a [name]Jr[/name]. if that’s something that’s important to him. Though, there are never any guarantees for anyone. You could end up with only one child. Or a house full of girls. 
Never never never…
My [name]BIL[/name] is a sixth and he’s proud to carry a name that’s so old and from a family that has an interesting history, I see where you’re coming from though because I love names too but I think when a name is that old it becomes more than a name it’s sort of a living legacy
Thanks for all the feedback! The name is [name]Sullivan[/name]. He goes by [name]Sully[/name]. [name]Baby[/name] could maybe just go by [name]Sullivan[/name]? Again, these are big if’s, but the topic of names has been coming up more and more as we have been making more decisions about our future.
I agree with your reasoning wholeheartedly. I hear of it happening to other Sr./[name]Jr[/name]. pairings all the time.
It’s even worse with twins with the same initial names.
I would not do it, unless I married a man with the same name has my top combo coincidentally. I don’t like the idea of naming a child after yourself/spouse, and I’m not even that big a fan of naming a child after family members.
They should have their own name imo.
But if you really love his name, then up to you.
Personally, I wouldn’t do it specifically to honor my husband (after all, I’d be the one doing all the “heavy lifting” during pregnancy until the baby’s born, no pun intended) but I think if you love his name and you want to, it’d be nice. I’ve never met a [name]Jr[/name]. who complained about being named after his dad or that they don’t have “their own name”. I have a name that is essentially meaningless in that my parents ‘just liked it’, and although I love it I sometimes almost wish I was named after someone in some way.
[name]Sullivan[/name] is a very cool name. If hubby goes by [name]Sully[/name], you could always call baby [name]Sullivan[/name] or [name]Van[/name]. As an alternative you could give him hubby’s first name and a different middle name, that way he would still be named after dad but he’d have “his own” name too.
We’ve considered this- my husband’s name has always been one of my favorite names, plus, if ever there would be a namesake to be proud of, it would be my husband- he’s pretty awesome 
That said- our last name is ridiculously common, so it wouldn’t be unheard of for a child with this name to run into another person with this name, and then to live with his dad having the same name on top of it? I’m just worried he might start to feel a little anonymous.
[name]Sullivan[/name] is more distinctive, though, so I don’t think you’ll have to worry about that! It’s a great name, I’d go for it!
No, I wouldn’t do it for a number of reasons, but to each their own.
In my experience, the Juniors who are happiest with their names have a mature nickname they can use to differentiate themselves from their fathers’ names. A [name]William[/name] [name]Jr[/name] who can use [name]Liam[/name] or [name]Bill[/name] for a nn to separate himself from daddy [name]Will[/name] is more content, for example, than a [name]Mark[/name] [name]Jr[/name] who is stuck either with [name]Markie[/name] or with being the second [name]Mark[/name] in the household. [name]Sullivan[/name] is a decent name to pass down, in that respect. He could at least be [name]Van[/name].
Yes, I would. DH wants a junior, and though I don’t [name]LOVE[/name] his name, I think it’s his prerogative. If I wanted to name my daughter after myself (I don’t!), I would expect him to agree to that as well. As someone else said, I have never met a junior who hated his name, and I like the tradition of it.
[name]Sullivan[/name] is a GREAT name, so you are lucky in that respect!
My husband wants our (also, still future) son to have his first name with a middle name (DH doesnt have a middle name) so he wouldnt technically be a junior, but same name. His reasoning is that he really likes his name and it’s the first name in his family that isnt very ethnic and a big pain to have when traveling.
I’m not totally opposed to it, but pushing to use it in the middle spot because I like our mn contender a bit better!! I totally understand feeling a little cheated as a name nerd that youre basically passing on giving your son one of your own creations, but if you like the name and its important to him, I think you can make it work.
Would he consider just passing down his first name with a different middle of your choosing? That seems like it could be a nice compromise in the future.
I’m honestly surprised more than one poster says they’ve never met a [name]Junior[/name] who disliked being a junior! My experience has been an almost complete 180, a near total opposite. With only one exception I can think of, the juniors I’ve known haven’t been happy with their names, to the point of insisting their sons would never be IIIs.
If both names were family names on the husband’s side, I might. I don’t have anything against juniors; it’s a very old tradition and there’s nothing wrong with it. Personally though, I’ve ruled out [name]Emmett[/name] for a boy (even though I love it) because my name is [name]Emily[/name]. I don’t want people to think I named my son after myself. I don’t want to say I’d have a double standard for my husband, but again it depends on the significance of the name.
If my husband were a III, IV, V, etc it would be a different story. I would absolutely pass down the name then if my husband wanted to.
Maybe a regional thing? I’m in the South so there’s tons of III’s and beyond. I do know of one man who is the 5th who said no more, but everyone else seems to want to pass on the tradition.
Okay, let me try this again.
Would I ever make my baby a junior? Yes. Would I make my baby a junior just because my husband wanted to name our son after himself? No. I have nothing against juniors; it’s an old tradition and there’s nothing wrong with it. In some situations a junior is perfect.
I would make my son a junior IF my husband’s name consisted of family names that he felt strongly about passing on. I wouldn’t do it just because, simply because I’m not a just because namer. If my husband was given only one family name, then that’s the name we would pass down.
Now if my husband were a junior, III, IV, etc, at that point, my son would share his name with his father and his grandfather. Throw “grand” in there and that’s what makes the difference to me. If my husband was a junior and wanted our son to be a III, great. I’d do it. The same goes for anything beyond (III, IV, V, etc). Our other children would be given names with just as much family significance.
I would absolutely not do it. My dad is a “junior” (with all that is in him he insists he’s not–which is true, technically, since he’s [name]John[/name] [name]Robert[/name], II, not [name]John[/name] [name]Robert[/name], [name]Jr[/name]… He hates the idea of being a junior, though, haha), and my brother is the third, and I’ve already seen them get confused with calls to the house and such, I can only imagine worse! I’ve heard that sometimes the father will have terrible credit and the son’s credit will be confused with the father’s, and for some reason the son would have to file bankruptcy because his father’s credit somehow got swapped with his? With horror stories like that, I just couldn’t do it.
The only reason I would be TEMPTED to cave is if my SO (which is hypothetical at this point) had a truly awesome name (well, exactly like [name]Sullivan[/name]!) that I was completely in love with. I always thought I might cave and have a jr. if my husband’s name was [name]Caleb[/name] or [name]Bailey[/name]. [name]Caleb[/name] because I just love it so much, and [name]Bailey[/name], well, because it’d give me an excuse to use it. [name]Ashley[/name], [name]Bailey[/name], and [name]Bailey[/name] would be kind of weird, though, haha. And I really don’t think I’d do it in the end, it’s much too confusing. I would be more than willing to use my husband’s name for a MN for our son, though.
I don’t like it but if it was really important to him then sure. Preferably, I’d give my son a different mn or a second mn, so he wouldn’t be a [name]Jr[/name] but he’d have Dad’s name.
I’d be more inclined to go along if my child would be a 3rd, 4th, 5th… because I don’t want the in-laws to see me as the horrible woman that broke the chain. And even if they never expressed those feelings, I would feel bad for being the one to end a family tradition
I hate the [name]Jr[/name] tradition. I would never do it. Everyone deserves their own name. [name]Honor[/name] someone with a name in the middle or something.
I’d only do it if there was a long history of it. If my husband was a 3rd or 4th I’d consider it.
I would never do it as the first [name]Jr[/name]. though. Seems old fashioned, boring, and confusing.