Ancestral Name

"I'm Abu the Thief. Son of Abu the Thief. Grandson of Abu the Thief."

—Abu, The Thief of Bagdad (1940)

Whether in fiction or real life, parents naturally want their kids to be like them and what better way to reflect this desire than to name the child after themselves?

Naming children after their predecessor is often symbolic of the parents passing down their hopes, dreams, and legacy to their progeny (regardless of the child's own wishes). It is also a convenient way — for both the parent and the writer — to quickly establish familial connection without having to look too far for a suitable name. And if the family's legacy stretches back to several generations prior (which is typical for royal families, noble houses, or The Clan), it is not uncommon to name the child after one of their grandparents or a more distant Famous Ancestor. To hammer in the connection even further, the child might also share the exact same appearance, and sometimes even biography, as the ancestor they are named after.

Since Lineage Comes from the Father, expect this trope to be more commonly applied to fathers and sons, although examples between mothers and daughters can exist, especially in matriarchal cultures. A daughter being named after her father is not unheard of either, usually because her parents Wanted a Son Instead.

This naming convention can also be used when a writer wants to use a Historical Domain Character in a (more) modern setting but doesn't want to use a Setting Update to tell the character's story for some reason. Instead, they name their new character after the Historical Domain Character and claim that they are the latter's descendant to achieve the same effect.

A Sub-Trope to Significant Name Overlap, and may overlap with Dead Guy Junior if the ancestor is already dead when the child is born. Super-Trope to King Bob the Nth. Compare "Near and Dear" Baby Naming when the child is named after a living friend or relative that the parent is close to, usually to honor that person and may also overlap with this trope if the parent named their child over their own living parent (i.e. the child's grandparent) out of respect for the latter.

Often used as a Preppy Name as well, where a character's full name is followed by a Roman numeral (commonly III), implying that the name itself is a family legacy, even if their parents' name are not explicitly given.

Compare/contrast Legacy Character, when a name or Secret Identity is passed down to different individuals after the original retires/dies. See also Ridiculously Long-lived Family Name.

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Examples:

Anime & Manga

• Black Butler: Baldroy's flashback reveals that he used to be married and had a son, whom he named Baldroy Jr. Unfortunately, his wife and son were killed in a fire set by natives due to a long-standing conflict between them and the settlers.
• Doraemon: In the future, Nobita would name his son Nobisuke, after his father. Future!Nobisuke's more assertive and outgoing personality (he's quite The Bully, unlike Nobita, who is a Bully Magnet) indicates that he's more similar to his grandfather (or rather, his grandmother) than he is to his parents.
• Faked in Kill Blue. Legendary hitman Juuzo Ogami is de-aged into a preteen and starts attending middle school using his own name. When he meets a fellow assassin who questions his identity, he claims that he's his own illegitimate child who happens to share his "father's" name.
• Lupin III: The titular character is the direct descendant of Arsène Lupin and continues his namesake's occupation as a Gentleman Thief. One of the main characters is named Goemon Ishikawa XIII, and he is likewise descended from the legendary Japanese outlaw, although the 13th generation is a sword maker rather than an outlaw.
• Sailor Moon: The Queen of the Moon Kingdom during the Silver Millennium age is named Serenity. Her daughter is Princess Serenity, who is reincarnated into Usagi Tsukino after the Kingdom falls. In the future, Usagi will rule Crystal Tokyo in the new Silver Millennium as Queen Neo-Serenity, and she will bear a daughter also named Usagi (nicknamed Chibiusa).

Comic Books

• Bodies (2014): As Professor Henry Harker tells Shahara in 2014, it's tradition for firstborn sons in the Harker family to be named Henry. Another Henry Harker had previously appeared in Hillinghead's story.
• The DCU:
  • Aquaman: Aquaman and Mera's son is named Arthur Curry Jr.
  • Batman: Batman's Rogues Gallery include James Gordon Jr., son of Comissioner James Gordon. Despite their shared names, Jr. is nothing like his father, who is Batman's longtime ally.
  • The Flash:
    • Barry Allen and his grandson Bart Allen share the same full name, Bartholomew Henry Allen.
    • Wallace "Wally" West and his cousin Wallace "Ace" West are both named after their grandfather.
  • Superman:
    • Clark's son is named after his paternal and maternal grandfathers, Jonathan Kent and Samuel Lane.
    • Vril Dox, AKA Brainiac 1, has a clone son also named Vril Dox II, AKA Brainiac 2.
    • Depending on the continuity (sometimes it's Hudson) Clark is Martha's maiden name.
  • Superman & Batman: Generations: Batman's first son, Batman III, is named Bruce's Wayne Jr. Later, Batman adopts Superman's grandson, the son of Joel Kent, and names him Clark Wayne after his grandfather Clark Kent.
• Lanfeust Odyssey: C'ian named one her daughters "Cixi", just like her aunt, and one of her sons "Nicolède", just like his grandfather.
• Marvel Universe:
  • Nick Fury: When Marvel decided to introduce a black Nick Fury to match the one from the Marvel Cinematic Universe ^note This was part of an overall attempt to bring the comics in line with the films. Around the same time, the X-Men and Fantastic Four (whose film rights still belonged to Fox) were increasingly sidelined with the Inhumans being increasingly used as replacements for mutants. , they "revealed" that Nick Fury had a black son named Marcus Johnson... whose real name was Nicholas Fury Junior. OG Nick Fury was shortly disposed of, allowing Junior to take his place (and name) as the only Nick Fury.
  • Spider-Man:
    • Peter's full name is Peter Benjamin Parker, the Benjamin clearly derived from Uncle Ben's first name.
    • Marvel Comics 2: Peter and Mary-Jane have two children named May and Benjamin, after Peter's respective guardians, Aunt May and Uncle Ben. They are nicknamed "Mayday" and "Benjy" to differentiate them from their predecessor.
    • The Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows: Anna May Parker is named after both Aunt May and MJ's Aunt Anna.
• Transformers: Wings of Honor: It's revealed in character bios that Sentinel Major is descended from an entire line of warrior robots known as the Sentinel line. He apparently takes great pleasure in the knowledge that his honoured ancestors are looking down upon him... and wishing they were him. The Combaticons make it a point to crush him to death with one hand when they reveal they can form the awesomely powerful combiner named Bruticus.

Fan Works

• Alzur's Legacy: Dandelion's son is named Julian. Dandelion's real name is Julian Alfred Pankratz in the The Witcher series.
• The Apprentice, the Student, and the Charlatan: Zig-zagged. Nova Shine is named after his family's patriarch, Nova Shine I, a unicorn spellcaster said to be just as prolific as Star Swirl the Bearded. The present-day Nova constantly struggles with the weight of the expectations placed upon him because of this. Subverted, in that it later seems that he and the first Nova Shine are actually the same pony and that he will be journeying into the past shortly after discovering this information. Double-subverted, because while he was in the past, he met and fell in love with Clover the Clever but they ultimately could not be together. She then named her son after him, who then grew up to become the Nova Shine that the present-day Nova was named after.
• The Black Sheep Dog Series
  • The series takes the common Harry Potter fanon that a son (especially the first born) takes his middle name after his father's given name and turns this into a Black family tradition. Hence, Sirius's full name is Sirius Orion Black, while his father Orion is Orion Arcturus Black. This is played for drama as both men struggle with the burden of sharing names with a father "they could never live up to".
  • The Blacks' tendency (and lack of creativity) when coming up with children's names are alluded when Sirius and Regulus are sorting through their father's letters and Sirius reads one from "Regulus". His brother had to ask which Regulus the letter came from, before discovering, to his horror, that Sirius is reading his personal letter.
• The Bolt Chronicles: An extreme example appears in "The Paris Trip." Berlioz is clearly an Expy of his namesake in The Aristocats. It's implied that he's a distant descendant of that character as well, as he tells Mittens the naming tradition goes back at least eight generations.
  Berlioz: [wrinkling his muzzle and fake counting on his paw] Yup, I'm named after the composer. It's kind of a family tradition, actually. Best as I can tell, I'm technically Berlioz Jr. Jr. Jr. Jr. Jr. Jr. Jr. Jr.
• Brother on Brother, Daughter on Mother: Discussed. Eleya recounts having thought about naming her first daughter "Taryn" after her great-grandmother. It turns out her future self in fact did, as "Belka Saris" reveals her true identity to be Eleya's time-traveling future daughter Reshek Taryn.
• The Legend of Genji:
  • The protagonist Genji is named after his paternal grandmother, "Gramma" Genji.
  • Iknik Blackstone Varrick has a son who he named Iknik Blackstone Varrick II. He also insisted that his son name his grandson "Iknik III" and was disappointed when he didn't.
  • Two of Bolin and Opal's children are named after their family members; their son San is named after Bolin and Mako's father, while their youngest daughter Toph Beifong II is named in honor of Opal's grandmother, the original Toph Beifong.
• Mended: Ash is named after his father Oak's middle name of "Ashley", which Oak himself had obtained from his grandfather.
• The Naked Jedi: Averted with Aayla Secura, who Kael mentions to be unrelated in a meaningful way to the Clone Wars-era Jedi Master of the same name. That said, they do share an appearance and fashion sense.
• In Chapter 3 of The Rabbit Has Always Loved The Turtle, Usagi explains he got his name from his ancestor, who legend says came from the moon, defeated a great dragon, and now pounds mochi on the moon.
  Leo: Mochi.
  Usagi: I didn't say it was a very extensive legend.
• Vow of Nudity: The series protagonist, Haara, appears in every story except a prequel story starring her mother, also named Haara.
• Winter Bells: Twilight Sparkle's mother is Twilight Velvet.

Films — Animation

• The Book of Life: Manolo's best friend, Joaquin, is named after his father, the late Captain (Joaquin) Mondragon.
• The Boss Baby: The eponymous Boss baby is named Ted Jr., after his and Tim's father Ted Sr.
• Finding Nemo: Discussed when Marlin and Coral are considering what to name their fry and Marlin decides to just name the boys Marlin Jr. and the girls Coral Jr. Coral, however, prefers the name Nemo and that's what he ends up naming the one surviving son after the rest of the eggs get destroyed by a predatory fish.
• Lady and the Tramp II: Scamp's Adventure reveals that Jim and Darling's unnamed newborn son from the first movie is also named Jim. Averted in the tie-in comics, where his name is Albert.
• The LEGO Movie: Two of the Crazy Cat Lady's cats are named Fluffy Jr. and Fluffy Sr, and are presumably father and son.
• Pooh's Heffalump Movie: Implied for Lumpy, whose real name is Heffridge Trumpler Brompet Heffalump IV.

Films — Live-Action

• Avatar: The Way of Water: Spider's real name is Miles Soccoro, named so after is father Miles Quatritch, the Big Bad of the previous movie. He almost exclusively goes by his nickname and uses his mother's surname to deny any connection he has with his father.
• Gattaca: When the protagonist's father learns he's been dealt a bad hand genetics-wise (especially his thirty-year life expectancy), he hastily decides NOT to give him his first name. He plays the trope straight for his second, "optimized" son.
• Herbie: Fully Loaded: Maggy Peyton's father is named Ray, and her brother is named Ray Jr.
• Indiana Jones: Indiana's real name is Henry Walton Jones, which he shares with his father, who calls him Junior.
• Mutiny on the Buses: The name of Olive and Arthur's child born in On the Buses is finally revealed to be "Arthur", just like his father. To differentiate between the two, the child is known as "Little Arthur".
• Pirates of the Caribbean: William "Will" Turner shares his name with his father, William "Bootstrap Bill" Turner.
• The Thief of Bagdad (1940): Abu the Thief's father and grandfather are also named Abu, and they are all thieves.
• Tremors: Valentine "Val" McGee ends up having a daughter named Valerie. The latter also goes by "Val" and serves as a Legacy Character, continuing her father's role in fighting the Graboids in the sixth movie while Valentine is otherwise absent.

Literature

• Arcia Chronicles: The firstborn sons of the aristocratic Malvani clan are named either Henry or Cesar, after a pair of famous ancestors, usually alternating with each generation. Younger sons do get other names, like George, though.
• Area 51: Kaji, an old Egyptian man who guards the secret of the Sphinx, inherited his name from his ancestors. Both the name and duty are passed down by the males in his family. We are shown in the late 1800s another Kaji had guided Richard Francis Burton to the Sphinx. The line and name end with the latest, 21st century ones, since Abdu Al Iblis murders both the father and son.
• The Case Files of Jeweler Richard: Richard shares his first name with his paternal grandfather.
• Chrysanthemum: Victoria brags that she's named after her grandmother, and makes fun of Chrysanthemum for being named after a flower.
• In A Cry in the Night, all the men in the Krueger family going back four generations bear the first name Erich, with some of them going by their middle names to avoid confusion (e.g. Erich's father's full name was Erich John Krueger and he tended to be called John). When Jenny finds out she's pregnant with a son, she and Erich plan to name him Erich Krueger V. However, Jenny discovers that Erich put "Kevin" on the birth certificate instead. Erich claims it's because he wasn't certain the baby would survive and wanted to save the name Erich for a living child, but it's all but stated he actually did it because he's convinced Jenny's ex-husband Kevin is the real father.
• Discworld:
  • Samuel "Sam" Vimes of the City Watch has a son also named Sam, nicknamed Young Sam, or Sam Vimes Jr.
  • Most dwarfs with patronymic surnames have Repetitive Names due to this, such as Rhys Rhysson or Glod Glodsson.
  • The example given in The Discworld Atlas of the correct way to address a Nothingfjord chieftain begins "Hail Eric! Son of Eric the Auk-Eyed, Son of Eric Short-Beard, Son of Eric Longshanks, Son of Eric the Bard, Son of Eric of the One Leg, Son of Eric of the Other Leg, Not the One With a Nasty Thing on His Foot, Son of Eric the Vain, Son of..." Well, it goes on for 24 lines and only ten of the ancestors mentioned aren't named Eric.
  • Subverted with King Verence II who was named after King Verence I by his mother but who, regardless of what everyone except the witches might believe, is no relation to him whatsoever.
• The Doctor Who Expanded Universe novel The Wheel of Ice features five generations of women called Josephine Laws, distinguished by nicknames: Josephine, Josie, Joss, Jo, and Phee.
• Dune: Paul Atreides named his firstborn son Leto in honor of his father; however, he died during a Sardaukar raid. In Dune Messiah, Paul still names his second son, Leto, who is officially known as Leto II.
• Eccentric Neighborhoods: When Elvira Vernet is born, her paternal grandfather insists she be named after his mother, whom he never saw again after he left Cuba. Her older brother is named after his maternal grandfather, Don Álvaro Rivas de Santillana.
• Harry Potter:
  • Harry's middle name is James, after his father, and one of the first things that his teachers usually take notice of him is his strong physical resemblance to James. He has also inherited his father's talent for Quidditch, and some of his recklessness and mischief.
  • Big Bad Lord Voldemort's real name is Tom Marvolo Riddle. He shares his first name with his father, from whom he inherits most of his looks before his creation of Horcruxes resulted in the noseless pale man we know and hate today, his middle name is his maternal grandfather's name, and his paternal grandfather was also named Thomas, making Voldemort at least the third of his name. His mother, Merope Riddle née Gaunt, requested these names as she gave birth to him in the orphanage shortly before dying, presumably to connect him to both sides of his heritage.
  • Harry would eventually name his eldest son James (referred to as James Potter II in the wiki), who had inherited his namesake's penchant for mischief and trouble-making.
  • The House of Black use stellar names for almost every member of their family — and, considering how long they've been around, there's bound to be several repetitions. Harry's godfather Sirius is the third in the family tree to bear that name (thus making him Sirius Black), as is his paternal grandfather, Arcturus Black, and one of his maternal uncles, Cygnus Black. This strict naming pattern shows how narrow-minded and restrictive the family's legacy is, and this is one of the reasons why Sirius hates his family and ran away to live with James when he was 17.
  • Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire introduces us to Bartimeus Crouch, an influential Ministry of Magic official who is (in)famous for his ruthless stand against the Dark Side. His son, Barty Jr., was ironically arrested long before the story starts for being a Death Eater.
• Holes: The hero is named Stanley Yelnats IV. Apparently, his family find the whole palindrome thing amusing.
• InCryptid:
  • Verity's father wanted to name her Alice after his mother, but his wife balked since Alice is weird (even by their standards). They compromised by making Alice her middle name.
  • Her brother Alex is named after their great-great-grandfather Alexander, and their great-grandfather Jonathan.
  • Alice herself is named as a feminine form of "Alex" since her parents thought she was going to be a boy and planned to name her after her grandfather. Her middle name is Enid, after her grandmother.
• The Princess Diaries has J.P. (formerly known as The Guy Who Hates It When They Put Corn In The Chilli), whose full name is John Paul Reynolds-Abernathy the Fourth. His father is John Paul Reynolds-Abernathy the Third.
• The narrator of the last The Queen's Thief book, Pheris Mostrus Erondites, was named after his grandfather. This was not a sign of respect. Pheris' mother knew that her father would be really pissed off that his disabled grandson was named after him, and she wanted to stick it to him for disinheriting her.
• Ramona Quimby: In Ramona Forever, Mrs. Quimby reveals that she is pregnant with a third child, and when Ramona and Beezus try to think of names for the new baby, whom they believe is a boy, the very first suggestion that comes up is Robert Quimby Jr., after their father. Several other names were considered and the family eventually settled on "Algie" (short for "Algernon"), but when the baby ends up being another girl, Mr. Quimby goes back to their original plan and she gets named Roberta (because Mrs. Quimby explicitly refuses to name any daughters after herself, as she dislikes being called Doris).
• The Red Vixen Adventures and the Steampunk Prisoners of War series both have a protagonist named Rolas Darktail. The former is confirmed to be a descendant of the latter in the Framing Device of The Visitors when he finds his ancestor's diary.
• Savvy: Mississippi's crush is named William "Will" Meeks Jr, which confuses her, since his father doesn't seem to be named William Sr. It turns out, however, that Bill, who they thought was his brother, was actually the real William Sr., and the man who Mississippi thought was Will's father is actually his grandfather.
• The Shadowhunter Chronicles:
  • William "Will" Herondale is named after his grandfather who was also named William.
  • Barbara Lightwood is named after her grandmother Barbara Pangborn.
• In The Sleeping Beauty Killer, Hunter Raleigh I named his eldest son after himself, making him Hunter Raleigh II. After Hunter II died in the Vietnam War, his younger brother James named his eldest son Hunter III in his honour and to carry on the tradition. Andrew (James' younger son) notes that James had forbidden his eldest son from naming any of his children Hunter if he went through with marrying Casey, though Hunter ultimately didn't live long enough to father any children.
• A Song of Ice and Fire: Most of the noble families practice it, leading to many namesakes on the family tree.
  • Boys of House Stark are frequently named Brandon, after Brandon the Builder. Bran Stark (Ned's son) was actually named after Ned's deceased brother, not the Builder, though it still fits this trope. Similarly, the kings of Storm's End before Aegon's conquest were frequently named Durran Durrandon, after their ancestor Durran Godsgrief.
  • House Targaryen:
    • Aegon the Conqueror, the one who united Westeros, had at least six Targaryen men named after him, though only Aegon the Uncrowned was born when he was still alive. Aegon IV is an indirect example since he's named after his father's then-still-living brother, Aegon III, who was named after the Conqueror.
    • Princess Rhaena, Daemon Targaryen's daughter with Laena Velaryon, was named after Laena's mother, Rhaenys, who herself was named after one of Aegon the Conqueror's sister-wives.
    • Viserys II was named after his maternal grandfather/paternal uncle, Viserys I.
    • Daeron the Drunken, one of Maester Aemon's older brothers, was named after his paternal grandfather, Daeron II.
  • Daemon I Blackfyre was named after his maternal grandfather and he named his third son, the future Daemon II, after himself.
  • Royce Baratheon, the Lord of Storm's End in the aftermath of the Dance of the Dragons, was named after his maternal grandfather, Royce Caron. His father, Borros, was a supporter of the Greens during the Dance, and his dying wish was to name his heir after his liege lord, Aegon II. However, his wife Elenda decided to go with her father's name, presumably because she did not want her son to have the name of someone who would go down in history as one of the worst kings Westeros had.
  • Ancestors who have disgraced themselves lead to an In-Universe Baby Name Trend Killer; for example, King Maegor Targaryen was so infamous for his cruelty and sadism that nobody in the dynasty was named Maegor again (except for Prince Maegor in 232 AC, whose father Aerion was likewise cruel to the point of madness and had probably intended the name as provocation).
  • Lord Walder Frey's numerous descendants include multiple Walders and Waldas.
• Princesses of the Pizza Parlor: "The Third" indicates that it's a name that repeats in the family: "Priscilla Adelle nic Mairead von Lingonberry, the Third".
• In The Saddle Club, the stable owner Max's full name is Maximilian Regnery III, with his father and grandfather being Maximilian Regnery I and II respectively. When Max's own first child turns out to be a girl, he and his wife decide to go with a modified version of the tradition and name their daughter Maxine.
• Star Wars Legends:
  • According to the comics, Greedo, the Rodian bounty hunter whom Han shot in the Mos Eisly Cantina in A New Hope has a father also named Greedo, sometimes referred to as Greedo the Elder.
  • Leia names her youngest son Anakin, after her biological father, in hopes to redeem the Fallen Hero's legacy and to overcome her own fear of Darth Vader by seeing the man Anakin Skywalker could have become through her son. Leia acknowledges that she might have placed an unnecessary burden on her son by giving him that name, and, growing up, Anakin himself struggles with the fear that he might follow his namesake's journey by falling into the Dark Side.
  • Han and Leia's only daughter, Jaina, is named after Han's late mother, and she is said to resemble her father the most in terms of personality.
• The Twilight Saga: In Eclipse, we learn that Quil Ateara is such a name. While discussing the question of who Embry's father is, Quil Ateara Sr. is one of the possibilities mentioned. Quil's grandfather is introduced to the readers as Old Quil. In New Moon, Jake says that on his mother's side he's a descendant of Quil Ateara, later clarifying that this is the great grandfather of the Quil in the story. And acording to the Twilight Illustrated Guide, Quil is actually the fifth consecutive person by that name in the family.
• Vorkosigan Saga: The Vor tradition is that first and second sons are named after their paternal and maternal grandfathers. Miles was going to be named "Piotr Miles" after his paternal and maternal grandfathers' first names and it was Serious Business when his grandfather Count Piotr Vorkosigan refused to allow Miles the name. Mark, as a second son (despite being a clone), got his name from his maternal and paternal grandfathers' second names.
  Miles: That makes you Mark Pierre. Sorry about the Pierre. Grandfather always hated it. You are Lord Mark Pierre Vorkosigan, in your own right, on Barrayar.
• Wagons West:
  • Tim Holt is named for the first Holt that immigrated to America,
  • Mike Holt is named for his grandfather Michael "Whip" Holt.
  • Peter Blake is named for Henry's biological father, with his middle name Heinrich being the German form of his father's name, which Peter's German baroness mother preferred calling Henry.
  • Cathy Martin is named for her grandmother Cathy Van Ayl/Blake
  • Janessa and Charley named their twins after both sets of grandparents: Mary Lavinia and Brandon Tobias.
• In Wuthering Heights, the men of the Earnshaw family traditionally have names beginning with "H." The three named male members of the family are Hindley, Hareton (who shares his name with his ancestor who built Wuthering Heights back in 1500), and foster son Heathcliff. Meanwhile, young Catherine Linton is named after her mother Catherine Eanrshaw (which doubles as a Dead Guy Junior, since the elder Catherine dies in childbirth), and Linton Heathcliff has his mother Isabella Linton's maiden name as his first name.

Live-Action TV

• America's Got Talent: Extreme features generational stunt performers and some of them share names with their predecessors.
  • David "the Bullet" Smith is the son of David "the Cannonball" Smith, and he claims that his father is the best human cannonball he knows.
  • Alfredo Silva is a sixth generation of cage riders, and his father and late grandfather (whom he considers his heroes) are also named Alfredo.
• Arrested Development: Gob's actual full name is George Oscar Bluth II, so named after his father.
• Arrowverse: John and Andrew Diggle each has a son respectively named John (nicknamed J.J.) and Andrew (nicknamed A.J.).
• Billions has Charles "Chuck" Rhoades Jr., who shares his given name with his father, Charles Rhoades Sr.
• Blackadder is a comedy series spanning five different generations, each focusing on Edmund Blackadder, each of whom are descended from the previous Edmund Blackadder.
• Breaking Bad stars Walter Hartwell White, whose son is likewise named Walter Hartwell. Walt Jr. usually goes by "Flynn", though.
• The Brittas Empire: A Freeze-Frame Bonus in "The Christening" reveals that Mark and Matthew Brittas (the recently born twin sons of Gordon and Helen Brittas) have the middle name of Gordon, presumably taken from their father.
• CSI: NY:
  • Det. Don Flack, Jr. is named after his father, Donald, and follows him into law enforcement. He tells one suspect, also a "Jr.", that it's hard not to want to emulate someone "when you're carrying their name."
  • Although the two have different middle names, it's implied that "Mac" Taylor was named after his father, McCanna, for whom he still has great respect a couple of decades after the man's death. When Ray comes to visit from Las Vegas, he and Mac talk about their dads having served in the military. Ray then says, "I hear you wore some stripes yourself," and Mac replies, "I just wanted to be like my father." In "Near Death", Christine tells Jo that Mac's middle name of Llewellyn has been passed down through Mac's mother's family.
• Dallas: Eldest son J. R. Ewing is named for his father (nicknamed Jock) and, in turn, names his own son John Ross III
• Doom Patrol (2019): Jane eventually learns why she's called Jane instead of something weirder like Kay Challis's other alters; Kay named her after her grandmother Jane, one of the only people she ever loved and trusted, because Jane's role is to care for Kay the way her grandmother did when she was still alive.
• Like the books, Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon feature noble families reusing names, such as Viserys Targaryen (the king of Westeros before the Dance of the Dragons, one of the sons of Rhaenyra by Daemon during the Dance of the Dragons, and the jerkass brother of Daenerys over half a century later), Aegon Targaryen (King Aegon I "The Conqueror", King-claimant Aegon II, and Rhaenyra's second son by Daemon) and Rickon Stark (the Lord of Winterfell at the time of King Viserys, and much later one of the sons of Ned Stark). This ends up causing much troubles, such as when Queen Alicent mistakes the Aegon her husband Viserys talks about (the First of His Name, the Conqueror, from the prophecy of the "Song of Ice and Fire") with her own son Aegon.
• Gilmore Girls: Played for Laughs. Both the Gilmore mother and daughter are named Lorelai Gilmore, with the younger called Rory to avoid confusion. While in labor and under the influence of a lot of Demerol, Lorelai began thinking how unfair it was that it is socially acceptable for men to name their sons after themselves, but not women, and decided to buck tradition. Later episodes would reveal that Lorelai herself is named after her grandmother, meaning Rory is technically Lorelai Gilmore III, making this story also Hilarious in Hindsight.
• Hawkeye: The wealthy Duquesne family has had at least 7 people named Armand over the course of its long legacy. The current patriarch is Armand Duquesne III, while the series also feature a younger relative named Armand Duquesne VII.
• On Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, "Sonny" Carisi's full name is Dominick Carisi, Jr. He's "Sonny" because he's the "son" to his dad's Dominick Carisi, Sr. However, everyone he works with tends to choose a Last-Name Basis type relationship, so it's rare he gets called by either given name outside his family—this is just the explanation for the fan queston "how is 'Sonny' a nickname for 'Dominick'?."
• The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power: Played With. Every heir to the throne of the ruling Dwarf family of Khazad-dum is called Durin, but they do have their own names they share only with members of their family.
• M*A*S*H: In one episode, Hawkeye harasses B.J. Hunnicutt to tell him what his initials stand for, but Beej keeps refusing. Hawkeye resorts to looking in the personnel files and finds that his given first and middle names are actually just the letters "B" and "J". Hunnicutt finally tells him that they come from the names of his parents, Bea and Jay.
• In ¿Qué Pasa, U.S.A.? father Pepe and son Joe have the same name: José Manuel Peña. Joe's nickname is an English version of his given name (befitting a Cuban-American teen who has grown up in the States and has no memories of Cuba). As for the fiercely Cuban and proud of it Pepe, he goes by a common nickname for the Spanish name José.
• Star Trek: Enterprise: Implied with Trip. His real name is Charles Tucker III (he got the nickname as a play on "triple"), which indicates there are two other Charles Tuckers in his family.
• Superman & Lois:
  • Natalie Irons is named for her maternal great-grandmother. This weirds Lois Lane out considerably, as Natalie's mother was her alternate-reality counterpart and she herself had considered naming her stillborn daughter Natalie after her grandmother.
  • Jon and Jordan Kent are named after both Clark's fathers: Jonathan Kent and Jor-El.

Mythology and Religion

• The Bible: Alluded in "The Gospel of Luke" during the birth of John the Baptist, where Elizabeth's neighbors and relatives want to name the baby Zechariah after his father. When Elizabeth insists that the baby's name is John (per the angel's instructions), they express surprise because neither Elizabeth nor Zechariah have any relatives named John.

Radio

• The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (1978): Zaphod Beeblebrox is named after his father, Zaphod Beeblebrox II, who is named after his father, Zaphod Beeblebrox III... when asked about the odd sequence, he claims "There was an accident with a contraceptive and a time machine."

Tabletop Games

• In the Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks and Tabletop RPG series, there is the city-state of Salamonis, on the world of Titan, where every male ruler has borne the name of "Salamon" and given the same name to his heir son, as a homage to the much respected first king. The current king is Salamon LVII.

Theatre

• Hamlet: Hamlet is a prince on a quest of revenge against his uncle, who had murdered his father, who is also named Hamlet. The two characters are usually distinguished by their titles: Prince Hamlet and King Hamlet.

Video Games

• Aveyond: Implied in the epilogue of The Darkthrop Prophecy, which mentions a green-haired boy named Lars VIII. The character doesn't actually appear in the game, and his surname isn't revealed, but he's quite obviously a descendant of Lars Tenobor from the first Aveyond game, Rhen's Quest, who shares his ancestor's name.
• Bayonetta 3: Viola is the daughter of a Bayonetta (real name Cereza) and Luka from an alternate universe. She takes on the name of Bayonetta after the death of prime Bayonetta.
• Club Penguin: Gary's great uncle is called Gariwald VIII, possibly having ancestors with the same name. It's unknown whether Gary's full name is also Gariwald or just Gary.
• Crusader Kings: The random name generator for children has high probability of reusing the names of ancestors: generally male-line ancestors for male children and female-line ancestors for female children. Children are especially likely to get their grandfather's or grandmother's name.
• Cute Knight Kingdom:
  • The innkeeper John, whose father and grandfather were also named John. If the Player Character marries him, they end up having a daughter whom they name Johanna.
  • Mixing with a Continuity Nod, the "Prime Minister" ending mentions that Prince Alaric will marry a Princess Michiko, whom Word of God has revealed is the daughter of the previous game's protagonist who shares her mother's name.
• Harvest Moon DS has an extreme example of Generation Xerox where most of the villagers—who are descended from the NPCs from Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life—share the exact same name, appearance and residence as their predecessors.
• The Mortal Kombat franchise have Kung Lao and Kung Jin, descendants of the Great Kung Lao, an Earthrealm champion who managed to defeat Shang Tsung in the tenth Mortal Kombat tournament, 500 years before the events of the first game.
• Moshi Monsters: Implied for the cowboy crocodile, whose name was Biggie Diddles III. He mentions his paternal grandfather, who may have been the first Biggie, but it's left unsaid.
• Soul Series, set in ancient times, has Yoshimitsu, the ancestor of Tekken's Yoshimitsu.
• Super Mario Bros. gives us Bowser Jr., who is the son of Bowser. Indeed, as his name suggests, he's basically a mini version of his father in both appearance and personality.
• Xenoblade Chronicles 3: Ghondor Vandham constantly complains about her name, but also refuses to go by a nickname. In the prequel DLC Future Redeemed we meet the original Ghondor, son of the Noah and Mio who became Moebius and grandfather of Matthew Vandham, who helped found the second City. This explains why her mother would give her such a name, and why she would hate it.

Webcomics

• Grrl Power stars Sydney Scoville, Jr. She's named after her father, and in strip 83 boasts she plans to name her future child Sydney Scoville III. As Sydney is a woman, one of the staff who interview her at Archon headquarters comments that 'it's a little unusual for a girl' (before noting he's only commenting on its statistical rarity). When we finally meet her father, we find that she definitely takes after his side of the family as far as personality as well.
• Unsounded: It's traditional for Plat couples to name their first girl child after the mother and first boy child after the father, thereby passing names down for generations. Vienne was her parent's only child and is named for her mother. Matty's full name is Mathis Quigley for his father Mathis Quigley, who in turn was named for his father of the same name.

Western Animation

• The title character of Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood is the son of Daniel Striped Tiger from Mister Rogers' Neighborhood.
• Family Guy: Cleveland has been shown to have a son named Cleveland Jr.
• Futurama: Fry's brother Yancy is named after their father. While Yancy Jr. dislikes his name, Yancy Sr. insists that every man in their family has been named Yancy Fry, going all the way back to the Revolutionary War with "Minuteman" Yancy Fry.
• Some classic Goofy cartoons give him a son named Goofy Jr., the inspiration for the later Max Goof.
• Gravity Falls: Shmebulock the gnome had an identical father named Shmebulock Sr.
• Kim Possible:
  • Kim has a pair of twin brothers, Jim and Tim, whose full names are James and Timothy, after their father, Dr. James Timothy Possible. Kim's middle name, Ann, is also possibly derived from her mother's name, Anne.
  • One of the show's recurring villain is a father and son team who are both named Senior. The father is called Señor Senior, Sr. while the son is Señor Senior, Jr. The latter is not actually into evil, but only partakes in villainy because his dad drags him into it.
• King of the Hill: Connie Souphanousinphone's actual name is Kahn Jr, after her father, since he had wanted a son.
• The Legend of Tarzan: Shows up when the aging Professor Porter learns of the apparently remarkable longevity of the local Waziri tribe, whose elders count their ages in literal centuries. After returning from an adventure to find a sacred pool of water the elders regularly bathe in, the Professor is somewhat dismayed to learn that there had been a linguistic misunderstanding. In reality, the Waziri elders were referencing the age of their names, which were passed down the family for generations. This is played with in the stinger when the men are laughing over Porter being silly enough to believe they were over five hundred when in reality they were only one hundred seventy-five.
• The Legend of Korra:
  • General Iroh, son of Fire Lord Izumi and grandson of Zuko, is named after Zuko's late uncle Iroh, who was a major contributor in his nephew's life and redemption.
  • Kya, Aang and Katara's daughter, is named after her maternal grandmother.
• The Loud House:
  • Bumper Yates named his oldest son Bumper Jr.
  • Lynn Loud Sr. named one of his daughters Lynn Jr., since "Lynn" is a unisex name.
  • The spinoff The Casagrandes has all of Carlos Casagrande's kids named after him: Carlota, Carlos Jr. (or CJ for short), Carlino (or Carl), and Carlitos.
• Mickey Mouse Clubhouse has an episode called "Donald Jr.", which introduces a young Donald-lookalike whom Goofy dubs "Donald Junior", although it's unclear if the character is actually Donald's son^note The character is clearly inspired by Donald's unnamed son in the non-canon short, "How to Have an Accident at Work", himself nicknamed Donald Jr. by fans. The MMC episode itself does not explicitly confirm that this character is indeed Donald's son, or even if his name actually is Donald.
• Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Casey Jones, in this continuity, got his name from the nickname of his mother, Cassandra.
• The Simpsons:
  • Nedward "Ned" Flanders's beatnik father is also named Nedward Flanders, at least in the TV episodes. In the comics, Ned Sr.'s full name is Nedsel.
  • In "Bart Gets an F", Bart imagines himself in the future still taking 4th Grade, now doing so alongside an Identical Grandson named Bart Jr.
• Total Drama: Harold's named after his great-great-great-grandfather, possibly, as his name is Harold Norbert Cheever Doris McGrady V.
• Total Drama Presents: The Ridonculous Race: One of the pairs consists of a father and son duo named Dwayne and Dwayne Jr. The father mostly calls his son just Junior.

Real Life

• The Romans took this to a ridiculous extreme, much to the chagrin of historians. During the Republic period and the early Pax Romana around six names got the Lion's share of the use. The names we use today for many of the emperors were coined centuries afterward - for example during his life Augustus Caesar shared his name with his adopted father from the day of adoption onward.
• Speaking of traditions to cause historians headaches, almost every single male in the Egyptian royal house was named Ptolemy for a good 200-year stretch.
• A lot of Greek ruling clans tended to this. Man names his son after his grandfather for generations, creating an ABABAB patter for decades.
• Monarchial names can seem like this, but monarchs choose their ruling name on accession. The full name of Britain's King Charles is Charles Philip Arthur George. Since he chose to stay with his first and most famous name, he became Charles III. However, it was previously speculated that given what happened with the first two Charleses, he could have chosen to use George as his regnal name, in which case he would have been George VII.
• And then there's the House Bourbon obsession with Louis. "The Sun King" Louis XIV and his unfortunate great-great-great grandson Louis XVI were the most famous, but the count got up to Louis XVIII after the Bourbon Restoration—the highest of the major European hereditary monarchies.^note The Popes get higher with Johns (officially 23, though there were actually only 21 thanks to a miscount plus confusion because two antipopes used the name John), but even their next highest (Gregory and Benedict) only get up to 16 apiece. And even then the Louises don't stop; the July Monarchy's first, last, and only monarch was Louis XVI and XVIII's cousin Louis-Philippe, and the Legitimist pretenders heavily lean into the "Louis" naming (as of 2023, the Legitimist pretender to the French throne claims to be Louis XX. Even the Bonapartes got in on the act; Napoleon III went by the name "Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte" before proclaiming the Second Empire in 1852.
• A fairly common occurrence amongst the Kennedy family. For instance, Joe Kennedy Sr's firstborn son was also named Joe after him, John's second child was called John F. Kennedy Jr, and Robert's second born son was named after him.
• A female example occurred with Anna Eleanor Roosevelt, whose daughter, granddaughter, and great-granddaughter were all directly named after her. This extends a generation back as well, since she shared a first name (though not a middle name) with her own mother.
• The Murdaugh family, who served as solicitors for the South Carolina Circuit Court, had three successive generations named Randolph. The fourth generation, Richard Alexander, breaks this pattern, but starts a new one by naming one of his two sons Richard Alexander.
• AC/DC's Stephen Crawford "Stevie" Young, who replaced his uncle Malcolm as the band's guitarist and back-up vocalist when the latter is away for illness (and became his permanent replacement after Malcolm's official retirement), is named after his father, Stephen Crawford Young Sr.—Angus and Malcolm's eldest brother. Stevie himself has one son named Stephen III.
• Dave Bautista and his sister, Donna, are both named after their parents, whom his autobiography outright admits "weren't very original when it came to naming us."
• Pedro Pascal inherited 3/4 of his full name, José Pedro Balmaceda Pascal, from his father, Dr. José Pedro Balmaceda Riera. Pascal also has a paternal grandfather named "José" and a nephew named "Pedro".
• A serial offender was the Wainwright clan, a prominent New York family which produced several generations of prominent military men and politicians during 19th and early 20th centuries. The first Jonathan Mayhew Wainwright was an Episcopalian theologian born in 1790 who served as the bishop of New York in mid 19th century (who was himself named after his maternal grandfather, theologian Jonathan Mayhew). His descendants included at least 6 Jonathan Mayhew Wainwrights, two of whom were prominent near-contemporaries: Jonathan Mayhew Wainwright IV was a US general who served during World War 2 under General MacArthur and became rather (in)famous for surrendering his command, after MacArthur left for Australia, to the Japanese (interestingly, his father was not Jonathan Mayhew Wainwright III—that was one of his uncles). His cousin, Jonathan Mayhew Wainwright (who didn't bother with a number) was a member of Congress during most of 1920s. The first Jonathan Mayhew Wainwright's brother's descendants included 3 generations of prominent U.S. naval officers all named Richard Wainwright (several US warships have been named USS Richard Wainwright, without reference to which of them specifically) and a few more who were not navy men.
• The legendary Hank Williams's son, Randall Hank Williams, is professionally known as Hank Williams Jr., and had actually started his musical career by singing covers of his father's songs as a "Hank Williams-impersonator". Hank Jr.'s son, Shelton Hank Williams, and a country musician of his own right, is likewise better known as Hank Williams III, or just "3".

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