Plan B Forum

Why can't they get it right?

RG III's grandfather, RG Sr, died in 1984. That means his son, RG Jr., should have become plain RG and when his son was born in 1990 he should have been RG Jr. while dad became RG Sr. and the newborn should NEVER have been RG III at all.

No wonder the Browns can't win

I see it like this: When the third RG was born, RG sr became RG I, RG jr became RG II and RG III is who he is. If RG III has an RG, he will be RG IV.

And they all should wear pendants that display their number....

No, no. When the 3rd RG was born, there was no RG Sr. Except of course RG Jr. (who should have been plain RG) became RG Sr. Thus making the third RG a Jr. This is something that Copernicus should be kneeling about

MajGenl.Meade wrote:No, no. When the 3rd RG was born, there was no RG Sr. Except of course RG Jr. (who should have been plain RG) became RG Sr. Thus making the third RG a Jr. This is something that Copernicus should be kneeling about

I don't think it works that way, Meade.  Back in 1954 when I was born my father gave me something that no one else in the entire world could give me, something that was uniquely his, the most precious thing he had —— his name.  Yes, I am a 'junior'.

He passed away in 1994, but that did not change the fact that I am still "William H. von Bicycle Jr." to the point that, twenty-plus years later, this is still the way I sign my checks.  Not only that, I will proudly continue to call myself "William H. von Bicycle Jr." up until the day I draw my penultimate breath.

As for myself, I never got married or had a son.  But if I had I probably would have named him "William H. von Bicycle III".  Then, once he got old enough to understand I would have also explained why I gave him that name.  Once he realized the intense meaning, love, and honor behind doing something like this I certainly hope that he would continue to refer to himself in that manner, even after both my father (his grandfather) and I had shuffled off this mortal coil.

-"BB"-

I'm not sure whether Meade is technically/legally/grammatically correct on this, but I agree wholeheartedly with Bill's viewpoint. One small cavil: it's up to Junior whether or not to drop the "Junior" from his name; I can think of reasons or situations different from Bill's when a person may well want to get rid of that part of his identity.

Hmm. Yeah...HIS identity. Which thought made me ponder this question: if a woman's name is identical to her mother's, can SHE be a "Junior"??? Does this ever happen?

Yes, a woman named for her mother (exactly) is legally a junior.

Example: Anna Eleanor Roosevelt, Jr. - only daughter of FDR and Anna Eleanor Roosevelt, Sr.

Example: Nancy Sinatra, Jr.


I would think it's far less common in large part due to the historical propensity for women to discard their surname upon marriage.

"junior" is no more a name than is Mister or Doctor or MBA or DSO. Senior, junior, II, III and so on are all suffixes that follow a name.

Once "Sr" dies, junior should lose the suffix - he is no longer junior to anyone. Decent etiquette requires it but the informal Americans love to do whatever they like, so it's a choice.

However, whatever one calls oneself, it's still not a name. If it was, the son of junior would be Joe Blow Junior II and "Junior" gets a capital for being a proper noun.

(Jr. is written with the capital J; junior spelled out is always with a small j - which proves it is not a name)

Rgds
Pendant patent pending

Since we're all acting like pennants regarding this subject, I've seen situations where parents are calling their son junior even though he has a different middle name than his father. That's a technical foul and there should be a penalty for that.

When that is the case, the father should be called by his name, John Joseph Smith, and the son, John Frederick Smith, should be addressed as Son of Stupid.

That's the spirit, Joe!

No no no Joe, Meade has to DO pennants for being such a pendant.

Joe Guy wrote:Since we're all acting like pennants regarding this subject, I've seen situations where parents are calling their son junior even though he has a different middle name than his father. That's a technical foul and there should be a penalty for that.

When that is the case, the father should be called by his name, John Joseph Smith, and the son, John Frederick Smith, should be addressed as Son of Stupid.

I was "Little Bill" (and Dad was "Big Bill") to my parents and other relatives until my freshman year of college.  That's when they realized that calling me "Little Bill" in front of some of my buddies might not be the wisest thing to do.
The fact that I was about three inches taller than my dad by that time might have had something to do with it too....

-"BB"-

Junior indicates that there is a senior still living. The number indicates a tally of how many there has been. Thus a Pope John 23 and Queen Elizabeth II. BB, you should call yourself BBII until you have a son who could be BBIII and you would be BB Sr

snailgate.

My son is named the same as my grandfather (middle name also). What do we call that? II ? certainly not Jr.

Grandpa Junior.

Guinevere wrote:No no no Joe, Meade has to DO pennants for being such a pendant.

And for being such a general, (no pun intended) pennant the ass...

Lord Jim wrote:
And for being such a general, (no pun intended) pennant the ass...

I call BS!

Older, that is entirely the proper place for 'Xyz, the second' Or maybe more, who was your grandfather named after?

All this was avoided in my line. I have no idea from whence my parents grabbed my name. I never asked; they never told me. We named both our children from various people we liked. My son pegged his two kids with fancy names from various family sources each--of his kids have four names not just three) My daughter and her husband picked given names not in the family any where they knew, they just liked the sound. And the middle names have some family association.

I am very glad the USofA is not like say South Korea or Germany, where there is a specified list of names one must pick from. Although 'Moon Unit' or name all your several sons 'George' is sort of pushing acceptability.

snailgate

Snail's right.... if grandpa was Bill Bloggs, then his grandson can rightfully be named Bill Bloggs with the suffix II.

Interestingly, if Bill Bloggs II's father is named Fred Bloggs, but Fred's brother (Bill's uncle) was named Bill Bloggs by grandpa, then grandpa would be Bill Bloggs Sr., Bill's uncle Bill would be Bill Bloggs Jr. and if HE later had a son he named Bill Bloggs, well he'd get the suffix III.

This is where death has its merits. Else we'd be swamped in numbers and eventually get a Bill Bloggs XIV which is more of a Superbowl than a suffix

PS my favorite G&S show is The Pirates of Pendants