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"Your mom and I named you after an incredibly brave woman, really not all that much older than you. Your name is Molly."
Toby Ziegler, The West Wing

If you need a name for your new baby, ask yourself, "Have any of my loved ones died?" If so, look no further: renew, reuse, recycle!

The concept of naming the next generation to honour the originals (especially a dead father, grandparent or some Famous Ancestor) has a number of enticing benefits for writers. Firstly, it saves them the effort of thinking up a whole new name. Secondly, it pays lip service to dead characters, and thus has the valuable effect not only of creating a walking plot reminder but of making audiences go, "Awwwwww! He remembered his dead [insert role here]!"

It can be done well, especially if the background culture is one in which it's a common practice (Victorian Britain, for example). In another case of Truth in Television, some people did and still do simply have a custom of naming new children after beloved deceased friends or relatives. If that context isn't there, though, it runs the high risk of coming off as corny. Especially if there's more than one namesake running around, and they had just the right number of kids...

For people named after living loved ones, see "Near and Dear" Baby Naming. For kids who are just like their parents, but not necessarily named the same, see Generation Xerox. A Bittersweet Ending may manifest this in Babies Ever After.

Often happens after Someone to Remember Him By. May also result from a Child Naming Request. The child may inquire about the dead person as in Tell Me About My Father.

Compare Birth-Death Juxtaposition, We Named the Monkey "Jack". Sister trope of Legacy Vessel Naming. This is one way of averting One-Steve Limit, and a subtrope to Significant Name Overlap.

As a Death Trope, all spoilers will be unmarked ahead. Beware.


Examples:

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    Anime and Manga 
  • Dragon Ball:
    • Goku named his firstborn son, Gohan, after his adoptive grandfather in Dragon Ball Z. His wife and father-in-law definitely approved, as Son Gohan Sr. and Ox-King were childhood friends.
    • Piccolo also happens to be named after his dead father, but that's probably because he's his father's reincarnation.
    • Also, the movie villain Garlic Jr. is named after his father, who was banished by Kami to the Dead Zone.
    • Dragon Ball GT has Goku Jr. and Vegeta Jr., the great-great-great-great-grandchildren of Goku and Vegeta, respectively.
  • Naruto: Naruto and Hinata named their firstborn son, Boruto (as in "Bolt") Uzumaki, after Hinata's late cousin Neji Hyuga, who died saving them in the Fourth Shinobi World War. "Neji" translates to "screw", which is synonymous with "bolt." Can be also counted as one for his late Grandfather "Yellow Flash" Minato's Flying Thunder God Technique, as the Chinese character "rai" (雷) can be translated as "lightning bolt."
  • Lyrical Nanoha:
    • Reinforce Zwei, at the request of the original shortly before her Heroic Sacrifice. For those who don't know, "Zwei" means "two" in German, so it means Reinforce the Second.
      Reinforce: When I vanish, I will change into a small powerless fragment of my current self. If it's all right with you, do not give my name to that small fragment, but to the new container that will hold your magic in the future.
    • Einhart named her Intelligent Device Asteion after a stillborn snow leopard kitten that belonged to her ancestor Claus.
    • Rinne also named and modeled her Intelligent device Scuderia after her late grandfather's keepsake which was destroyed by bullies on the day he died.
  • In Purple Eyes in the Dark, Rinko names her daughter Mai, after her dead sister Maiko, who got killed by Sonehara's dogs earlier in the story.
  • In Nana, Takumi and Nana name their son Ren after Takumi's bandmate Ren Honjou, who was killed in a car accident, although they had toyed with the idea before he died.
  • A strange case of this at the end of the Phantom Thief Jeanne manga: Marron names her daughter, who turns out to have inherited Angel Fin Fish's soul, "Natsuki". Natsuki was the name of Fin's previous human incarnation.
  • Legend of the Galactic Heroes: Reinhard names his son "Alexander Siegfried." Apparently, he had a hard time reconciling his desire to honor his dead best friend with his hatred of Kircheis' first name...
  • JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: The name of every main character of all 8 arcs can be read as JoJo. For the first 7 arcs, it was a family line (even when the seventh instance was set in an alternate universe instead). Arc 8, however...
  • Gundam Wing pulls a variation on this in the backstory of one of its characters. When a street urchin named Solo dies, his best friend gives himself the name Duo to show that even in death, they'd always be a team.
  • In My-HiME, Duran is the name of Natsuki's dog, who was killed in the same car accident as her mother. Not only does it eventually become the name of her child, but her father names his motorcycle after Duran as a "parody".
  • Chiriko's brother, in volume 18 of the Fushigi Yuugi manga, names his son Tao-Hui (Chiriko's birth name.)
  • In Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation, Zanoba names his previously nameless slave "Juliette" after his deceased younger brother Julius. He does this because it's an easy name to remember, as Zanoba is famous for having torn off said brother's head.
  • In a flashback to the past of Eren Yeager's father, Grisha, in Attack on Titan, we learn that that the man who gave Grisha the power of Titan Shifting was named Eren Kruger.
    • Eren Yeager later uses the surname Kruger as a fake name when he disguises himself as a Shell-Shocked Veteran of the Marleyan military in a Wounded Gazelle Gambit, in order to sneak into Liberio. Since his half-brother Zeke Yeager is in the military and Grisha's parents are both still alive, it would be very suspicious if another Yeager turned up seemingly out of nowhere.
  • In Yakitate!! Japan, Pierrot goes back in time to prevent his mother's Death by Childbirth. When he gets back, both his parents are alive and he's told he is disappointing his namesake - their clown family friend who went missing after saving the mother's life. By changing the timeline, he became a Dead Guy Jr. to himself and can't live up to his own examplenote .
  • Touta Konoe from UQ Holder! is shown in a flashback to have been named after Touko Kuzunoha, a minor character from Negima! Magister Negi Magi who was Setsuna's Shinmeiryuu instructor at Mahora Academy (as his surrogate mother was Setsuna's granddaughter).
  • In Evangelion 3.0+1.0, we are introduced to Ryoji Kaji, so named after his father who died stopping the Third Impact shortly after the events of 2.0.
  • The dead protagonist of Ojama Yuurei-kun was considered such a failure by his parents after he died, they decided to name his posthumous little brother Reijirou after him, but replaced the eerie character for "Rei"note  with a more sensible one meaning "gratitude".note 

    Comic Books 
  • In Tom Strong, Tom's mother named him after Tomas, the sailor who took them to the island and died trying to save them.
    • In an alternate universe where Tomas survived and Sinclair Strong died, Tomas suggests that he and Susan name their son Sinclair. Susan, however, insists the boy be named Tomas.
    • Tom himself named his pet thunderbird Pneuman after a robot his father built, which he thought was destroyed in an earthquake. Interestingly, Pneuman the bird would die not long after Tom salvaged the remains of and rebuilt Pneuman the robot — the original Pneuman went on to serve Tom for over a century.
  • Blaze of Glory has Reno Jones' son, Cass, after Kid Cassidy. Ultimately subverted.
  • Spider-Girl has May "Mayday" Parker, an alternate future daughter of Spider-Man, named for her deceased great aunt. She later gets a baby brother named Ben, though it's not clear whether he's named after his great-uncle or his dad's "brother through cloning" Ben Riley (possibly both).
  • It doesn't stand out because they both go by nicknames, but Bartholomew Allen — a.k.a. Impulse/Kid Flash — was named after his grandfather, the second Flash. Ultimately averted when Barry came Back from the Dead.
  • In stories set in the alternate future of Kingdom Come, several of the Titans do this:
    • Tempest's daughter is named Tula after his former lover.
    • Nightwing and Starfire's daughter is named Mar'i after Nightwing's mother Mary, but with Tamaranean spelling.
    • The Flash's twins are named Iris and Barry after his aunt and uncle. Averted in the main DCU when that Flash also had twins: his daughter was still named Iris, and his son was named Jai (after Jay Garrick, the first Flash), but both people in question were still alive.
  • Non-human example in Cerebus the Aardvark. Cerebus becomes a shepherd and has apparently named one of the sheep Elrod, who had been more-or-less killed almost 100 issues prior.
  • During the Our Worlds at War Crisis Crossover General Sam Lane, father of Lois and Lucy, was killed by aliens. Shortly afterwards, Lucy had a son, who was named Sam. The younger Sam hasn't been mentioned since the last Retcon, and the elder turned out to be just hiding, but it was an example for a while.
  • Siryn names her baby Sean after she finally accepts her father's death, but she doesn't get to keep the baby for long.
  • In one Superman/Batman story set not long after Jason Todd's death, Bruce Wayne visited Clark Kent in Smallville on the anniversary of the supposed death of a man they failed to save. During the visit, a small crisis erupts when a woman suddenly goes into labor in her home while the doctor who was presiding over the birth suddenly had a heart attack. Superman helps the mother give birth while Batman provides emergency treatment for the doctor. On the next day when Bruce has breakfast with the Kents Clark mentions off-hand that he suggested the name "Jason" for the newborn boy.
  • In the Age of Apocalypse timeline, Charles Xavier dies in Magneto's arms before they have time to become enemies, and Magneto names his son after Charles.
  • Old Man Logan has Logan's son, Scott. Logan and Scott Summers's rivalry and the fact that Logan killed the X-Men make the name particularly poignant.
  • In Three, Damar is the only one of the titular escaped Spartan slaves to survive, and turns out to be pregnant due to a Pre-Climax Climax with one of the other two, Klaros. She eventually gives birth to twins, who she names after Klaros and the third of the trio, Terpander.
  • Superboy (1994): Superman names Kon-El after a Kryptonian friend and honorary cousin of his father Jor-El who died along with Krypton since the poor kid has spent his life up till that point with no name outside a designation and "Superboy".
  • In Convergence: Superman #2, Superman and Lois name their son Jonathan Samuel Kent in honor of their fathers. Jonathan is obviously the name of Clark's adoptive father but the fact that they named their son Samuel after Lois' father, who was responsible for the destruction of New Krypton makes this especially poignant. Lois also initially suggests naming him Jor, after Jor-El, but Clark insists that he sees himself as human more than Kryptonian.
  • In American Vampire, Cashell McGogan names his son Gus after his deceased adoptive father. What makes this poignant is that both grandfather and grandson were vampires: elder Gus was an ancient Celtic vampire, while younger Gus was supposed to be a human baby before being turned into a vampire while still in the womb.
  • In at least one future, one of the Flashes descended from Barry Allen (the second Flash) is called Jace Allen, after Jay Garrick, the first Flash.
  • In the Disney Ducks Comic Universe, Donald is implied to have been named after his paternal great-grandfather, a decorated hero of The American Civil War.
  • Scooby Apocalypse: Shaggy and Velma name their son Fredrick Rufus after Velma's brother Rufus and Fred Jones, who had both been killed.
  • Wonder Woman: Amazonia: Subverted. Diana Trevor names one of her children Etta after her dearest friend, who is mentioned to be deceased, but she later finds that her daughter's namesake is still around.

    Film — Animation 
  • Charlotte (2021): The eponymous character learns as a young woman that she was named for her deceased aunt Charlotte, who drowned.
  • In the Korean version of Leafie, a Hen into the Wild Greenie is named similarly to his adopted mother, Leafie. In the English dub Greenie is named "Willy" after his deceased father "Wilson" ("Wanderer" in the original).
  • Joaquin from The Book of Life was named after his father.
  • James Rogers from Next Avengers: Heroes of Tomorrow, named in honor of Steve Rogers's best friend James "Bucky" Barnes, who died during WWII.
  • In The Rugrats Movie, had Dil been born a girl like they originally thought, he would've been named after Stu's deceased mother, Trixie. He is instead named after Didi's cousin, Dylan, though it's unknown whether he is alive or not.
  • At the end of Barnyard, Daisy names her new calf Ben, after Otis' father.
  • In a rather weird example, in Dingo Pictures ' Dinosaur Adventure, after the main characters finally reach the place where the other dinosaurs fled during the eruption, Tio finds that their parents had another baby, named "Tio II" after his "dead" brother, making it feel less like this trope and more like Replacement Goldfish.

    Film — Live Action 
  • At the end of Children of Men, Kee names her newborn daughter Dylan, after Theo's dead son.
  • In Coal Miner's Daughter, Loretta Lynn names one of her daughters Patsy after her close friend Patsy Cline, who was killed in a plane crash. Truth in Television: Patsy Lynn grew up to be a country singer too.
  • In Dosti Friends Forever, Karan names his son after his best friend Raj, who died of an Incurable Cough of Death.
  • At the end of Pearl Harbor, Evelyn named her son after his father, her Second Love Danny, who had died in a battle.
  • Tender Mercies: Sonny tells the bullies at his school that his name is actually Carl Herbert Wadsworth Jr., after his father, killed in Vietnam.
  • In The Mask of Zorro, Alejandro/Zorro names his son Joaquin after his dead brother.
  • Simon Birch reveals at the end that Simon's best childhood friend named his son after the boy, many years after his Heroic Sacrifice.
  • Towards the end of The Patriot (2000), Colonel Burwell's newborn son is named after Benjamin Martin's deceased son, Gabriel.
  • A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child. Two-time Freddy Krueger survivor Alice Johnson gives her newborn son the middle name Daniel after his father; her deceased boyfriend Dan, a one-time survivor.
  • In Escape from the Planet of the Apes, Cornelius and Zira named their son Milo after their fellow chimp scientist. By the next sequel, his owner Armando changed his name to Caesar to protect him from authorities.
  • Genghis Khan: To the Ends of the Earth and Sea: An unusual Worthy Opponent variation. Yesugei kills a Tatar leader named Temujin, then is told that Hoelun has delivered him a son. He names the baby—the baby who will eventually grow up to become Genghis Khan—Temujin in honor of the brave warrior he just defeated.
  • At the end of Elf, Buddy's daughter Susan is named after his mother he never knew.
  • Played with in the original Back to the Future, as near the end of the film, Marty's parents (in 1955) are shown considering that Marty is a nice name. The implication is that they decide to name one of their children after their disappeared friend who helped them get together - who was their son time-traveling from the future. In Back to the Future Part III, Marty learns he had a great-great-grand-uncle named Martin McFly. Supplementary material reveals that Marty's middle name is Seamus, after his great-great-grandfather whom he meets in the third film.
  • Marvel Cinematic Universe:
  • The DC Extended Universe version of Lex Luthor is revealed to have been named after his father in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice rather than his father being named Jules or Lionel.
  • In The Force Awakens, it turns out that Kylo Ren's real name is Ben, after Obi-Wan "Ben" Kenobi, Luke's dead mentor from A New Hope. It's also deconstructed, as Ben resents being named after some old Jedi he never even knew and resented the expectations that came with such a name even more, making it just one more thing that drove him to The Dark Side. He pointedly goes to great lengths to never actually refer to himself as Ben, without the That Man Is Dead reasoning Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader had.
  • Bird Box: Malorie eventually names her children "Tom" and "Olympia", for people who both died.
  • Maggie & Annie: The ending shows Annie is the mother of a second daughter called Maggie in honor of her now deceased lover.
  • In The Fate of the Furious, Dom finds out that he fathered a son with his ex Elena Neves, which she kept a secret. His middle name Marcos honors Elena's first husband, who died during a line of duty, while she wanted Dom to choose his first name. Dom naming him Brian is meta example, as while Brian O'Connor is alive in-universe, Brian O'Conner's actor Paul Walker died during the production of Furious 7.

    Literature 
  • Glenn Radars in Akashic Records of Bastard Magic Instructor is a rare example where the full name is used. The original Glenn Radars was a boy who persistently helped out Celica when no one else in his village would. Celica grew fond of him and planned to adopt him. However, it turns out that the boy was actually a thrall of a lich, sent to manipulate Celica into a trap. After Celica killed the lich and the thralls, she found another boy in the lich's lair, who had amnesia. She named him Glenn Radars and adopted him instead (something she considers herself pathetic for).
  • Animorphs:
    • In the prequel novel The Hork-Bajir Chronicles, Aldrea names her son "Seerow" after her deceased father.
    • Rather than a child, the trope is played with in the last book because the team names the spaceship they need for their final mission after their fallen comrade, Rachel.
  • In the Anne of Green Gables series, Anne and Gilbert name their children after friends and family. Their friends Leslie and Owen Ford do the same with their two children.
    • Jem Blythe (James Matthew) was named after Captain Jim and Matthew (Matthew was dead at that point, and Captain Jim died several months after Jem's birth).
    • Walter Blythe (Walter Cuthbert) was named after Anne's father and both the Cuthberts (Anne's father was dead, only one of the Cuthberts was).
    • Shirley Blythe was presumably named after his mother's parents, who were both long dead.
    • Rilla Blythe (Bertha Marilla) was named after Anne's mother and Marilla (the former was dead, while Marilla died when Rilla was a child).
    • Persis Ford was named after Persis Leigh, the schoolmaster's bride (and Owen's grandmother), long dead.
    • Kenneth Ford was named after his uncle who was killed when he was a child.
    • Bruce Meredith was named after his uncle who died before he was born.
    • Only one of Anne and Gilbert's seven children wasn't a namesake; their first child, Joyce ("Joy") was not, though she was born prematurely and died shortly after birth.
  • Artemis Fowl contains a literal example of this, combined with an almost literal example of We Named the Monkey "Jack": The main characters name a lemur JayJay, short for Julius Junior.
  • Ascendance of a Bookworm: Due to various circumstances, a noble identity needs to be built for Myne. The identity needs a name that's longer, but can be shortened to "Myne" so anyone using the one given to her by her parents will seem to be using a nickname. As several people are going to be told that Myne's noble identity is the daughter of a deceased woman named Rozemary, the trope gets invoked to make the name associated with the identity "Rozemyne".
  • In Beauty: A Retelling of Beauty and the Beast, Beauty's older sister Hope marries Gervain, the blacksmith, and ten months later gives birth to twins. The babies are a combination of this trope and Unto Us a Son and Daughter Are Born; the daughter is named Mercy, after Beauty's younger sister who died, and the son is named Richard, after his paternal grandfather.
  • In Barber Black Sheep, Oliver Winslow ultimately names his firstborn daughter Lucy in honor of his dead little sister.
  • In The Belgariad sequel series, Garion names his firstborn son after his dead father, and his firstborn daughter after his ultimate grandmother, dead for a few thousand years.note 
  • The Camp Half-Blood Series: Percy's mother, Sally, eventually has a daughter with her second husband, Paul. She is named Estelle, after Sally's late mother, who died in a plane accident.
  • In the Jewish children's book The Carp In The Bathtub, siblings Leah and Harry name the titular carp Joe, after an elderly neighbor who had died. In the end, after their attempt to Adopt the Food fails and their mother cooks Joe into gefilte fish for Passover, their father comforts them with the gift of a cat, which they name Joe after the fish.
  • Varencienne names her children for the dead in The Chronicles of Magravandias. Her first son is named Valraven, the traditional name of Palindrake heirs in honor of Valraven I who fell to the Magravandians. Her daughter Ellony is named for her husband's first wife. Her second son Leonid is named for her father.
  • David Copperfield: David himself is named after his father, who died before he was born, and in the epilogue, one of David and Agnes's daughters is named Dora, after his deceased first wife.
  • The Diaries of the Family Dracul:
    • Arkady's son, Stefan, is named after his deceased brother. However, his name was changed to Abraham by Mary to protect him from Vlad, while his half-brother adopted the name in his stead.
    • Similarly, Abraham's son Jan is named after his father.
  • Earth's Children:
    • In The Clan of the Cave Bear, the first book in the series, Uba is named after her great-grandmother, who died when Uba's mother, Iza, was a baby.
    • Also occurs with Filonia and Thonolan's daughter, Thonolia, whose name is a combination of the first two syllables of Thonolan's name and the suffix Filonia's people, the Losadunai, use for feminine names. However, it wasn't until Ayla and Jondalar passed through the Losadunai's territory that Filonia learned that Thonolan had died.
  • In the Iain Banks book The Crow Road, central character Prentice's brother names his newborn son Kenneth Rory Prentice Mchoan. Prentice (half) jokingly points out his concern that he's the only one of the baby's namesakes who isn't dead...
  • An extremely creepy example crops up in the second half of A Cry in the Night. While Jenny is recovering from the birth of her son, Erich puts the name Kevin on the birth certificate...as in Kevin, Jenny's recently deceased ex-husband whom Erich despises. Jenny is deeply disturbed when she finds out and insists the name be changed, especially as Erich had previously told Jenny they would follow the Krueger family tradition of naming sons after their fathers. It's strongly implied Erich named the baby after Kevin due to his delusional belief Kevin was the real father. And then the baby dies too...
  • In the Dale Brown books, Patrick and Wendy McLanahan's son Bradley is named after their late mentor Brad Elliott.
  • At the end of Dracula, it is revealed that Jonathan and Mina named their son after everyone in their group – but they call him Quincey, after the one who died.
  • The Dracula Tape by Fred Saberhagen: In the sequel The Holmes-Dracula File, young Quincey Harker also has a twin sister, named for Mina's friend Lucy. Which is both this trope, and a hint that Lucy Harker was born with some vampiric traits, as Lucy Westenra had been turned by the Count.
  • Dragonlance is positively lousy with these, although most are variations on the theme: Tanis and Laurana name their son Gilthas after his unfortunate uncle Gilthanas. Caramon and Tika name two of their sons Tanin and Sturm, after Tanis Half-Elven and their Sturm Brightlade, and one of their daughters Laura after Tanis's wife Laurana (although neither Tanis nor Laurana was dead yet). Their third son, on the other hand, is named Palin after the god Paladine (possibly an early attempt to prevent him from turning out like Raistlin did).
  • In The Dresden Files, Harry and Susan's daughter Maggie is named after her paternal grandmother; in this case, Mom named the child without any input from Dad, because she kept Harry from knowing about little Maggie up until she got kidnapped by Red Court Vampires.
  • In the Dune series, Paul Atreides names his first son Leto after his martyred father. After the younger Leto is similarly martyred, Paul also names his second son Leto, after the firstborn. Paul himself is named after his grandfather Paulus.
  • David Weber's Empire from the Ashes trilogy contains at least six kids all named after their parents' loved ones, in some cases two of them. (Admittedly not all the loved ones are dead yet, but a number of them are. One character even gets two namesakes, one before his death and one after.)
    • Another Weber example: After Honor Harrington's "death," a positive embarrassment of people and things are named for her, including what was at least on its commissioning date the galaxy's most powerful warship. (Reports of her death, naturally, were greatly exaggerated; she was enormously embarrassed by all the namesakes when she returned.) At least one child (and the local equivalent of a royal princess, at that) was named after her BEFORE the event...
    • Honor's children and siblings are all named after various other characters some of them are dead while others are alive at the time of the naming (although being a military Sci-Fi series not all of them remain that way).
    • An additional non-human example in the series is the RMN's Roll of Honor. Ships that participate in particularly heroic actions have their names added to the Roll of Honor and those names are kept assigned to a new ship whenever the previous ship using it is destroyed or retired.
  • The Empirium Trilogy: Eliana Ferracora helped push Rielle into killing Corien by empathizing with her ordeal. However, this resulted in Eliana F. vanishing since her timeline will no longer come to pass. In the new timeline, Audric and Rielle decide to name their daughter Eliana after Eliana F.
  • In The Enormous Egg, every one of the Twitchell family's animals is named after some relative. Uncle Beazley the triceratops is named after Nate's great-great-uncle, John Beazley.
  • Timmi from Grass and Sky was named after her grandmother Timothea.
  • In Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe, Ruth's son Buddy is named for her girlfriend Idgie's late brother. The name comes with a partial dose of Generation Xerox.
  • Harry Potter:
    • Possibly Voldemort, whose middle name, Marvolo, comes from his maternal grandfather. He would have died around the time of the birth, at least.
    • Aside from preferring Stellar Theme Naming, the Black family likes this trope. Harry's godfather is the third Black to be named Sirius. Sirius Black I didn't live long enough to attend Hogwarts; one of his brothers named a son after him; and said son is the great-grandfather of Sirius Black III.
    • Tonks' father, Ted, is murdered when she's pregnant, so it's not too surprising that the baby winds up named "Teddy."
    • The Distant Epilogue and other post-series materials have a lot of this. Harry names his children James Sirius, Albus Severus and Lily Luna—"Luna" is the only namesake who's still alive. George also named his son Fred, after his dead twin.
    • Supplemental material also revealed that Harry himself is named after his great-grandfather (although his first name was Henry). His middle name, James, is an unintentional version of this, as James, Harry's father and the namesake for Harry's middle name — was still alive when Harry was named as such.
    • According to Word of God, the reason why Harry doesn't name one of his kids after Lupin is because he wants Lupin's son, Teddy, who was orphaned as a baby, to be able to use it when he someday has a kid of his own.
    • Fred and George Weasley might be named after their maternal uncles, Fabian and Gideon Prewett, who were killed during the First Wizarding War.
  • Clarissa Pryce from Hitty, Her First Hundred Years was named after her grandfather's younger sister, who died young. Her grandfather is fond of her because she closely resembles her namesake.
  • H.I.V.E. Series: Lucy Dexter can conveniently be the namesake of either a boy or a girl, and was conveniently close to both Otto and Laura. In every fic where the two have a child, it will be named after her or Raven.
  • Hollow Kingdom (2019): S.T. names the little girl in the abandoned village Dee in honor of Dennis the bloodhound, who died an indeterminate amount of time prior to her discovery.
  • I Am J: J was named "Jenifer" by his parents after his deceased aunt. His father wanted a child with a name that starts with "J" because his mom has one too.
  • The Icelandic Sagas is filled with this due to the Scandinavian tradition to name a child after one of its grandparents. Notable examples include:
    • Literature/Heimskringla has Harald Fairhair who tries to give Gengis Khan a run for his money in producing offspring. Three of his 20 sons are named after his deceased father Halfdan the Black with one not only inheriting his late grandfather's name, but his nickname too creating a second Halfdan the Black. Harald himself has a grandson and king of Norway, Harald Greyfell, named after him.
      • The jarls of Hladi also has a confusing round of this. They start with Hákon, whose grandson also is named Hákon. This Hákon is murdered and his son Eirik names his son Hákon in his honor. We end up with 3 Hákon jarl who are given nicknames that makes it easier to tell them apart.
    • Egil's Saga has brothers Thorolf and Skallagrim. Thorolf is unjustly killed and Skallagrim names his first born after him. Obviously Tempting Fate here as Thorolf becomes the older part of a similar duo with the protagonist Egil and ends up killed in battle.
    • Gísla saga begins with a long prologue which mainly exist to set up who exactly the Gisli Sursson of the title is named after.
  • In InCryptid, Alex Jonathan Price is named after his great-grandfather Jonathan and his great-great-grandfather Alexander, both long dead by the time he was born. His sister Verity and their grandma Alice, on the other hand, are cases of "Near and Dear" Baby Naming.
  • David Lurie of In The Beginning is one, being the product of a levirate marriage.
  • In Julie Kagawa's The Iron Knight, the catfish begs for its life, pleading I Have a Family and tells Puck that it will name a grandfish after him. Puck lays down a new rule: he does not eat beings that name children after him.
  • Joel Suzuki: In the first book, a squirrel-like creature called a silvertail starts following Joel around. Joel names him Sammy, after a beagle that got hit by a car when he was seven.
  • Julie's little brother Amaroq in Julie (the sequel to Julie of the Wolves) is named after the dead leader of the pack that saved Julie's life.
  • Just Revenge: Sarah Chava Menuchen named her son Max, after her brother who she thought was dead.
  • The Legend of Anne Bonny: After Calico Jack Rackham is hanged and Anne Bonny gives birth to his son in prison, she names him Feargus Rackham to honor both his father and her beloved uncle Feargus Cormack who was hanged by the British Navy in the beginning of the book. It later turns out that Feargus Cormack was actually Anne's father and her son's grandfather.
  • Little Women: Amy's and Laurie's daughter is named Elizabeth — who goes by Bess in the sequels — after Beth who died from scarlet fever. The rest of the surviving March sisters' children are all named after still-living relatives.
  • Liz In September: Eva tells Liz she'll name her baby after her if it's a girl. Liz says not to burden the child with her name. Eva does anyway though after Liz dies, as a tribute to her.
  • It's revealed in The Longest Day book of Seeker Bears that Toklo named his daughter after his mother Oka.
  • The Lord of Bembibre: Millán and Martina name their firstborn daughter, Beatriz, after Martina's dear lady who dies tragically during the story.
  • The Lord of the Rings: In the appendices, it can be seen that Sam named his firstborn son Frodo and a later son Bilbo (although they are technically probably not dead yet, just gone away). His other children are also named after his living friends and family, but still. Given the age (and rate-of-aging) difference, it's possible that little Faramir Took is an example too.
  • The Lovely Bones: The epilogue reveals that Lindsey Salmon eventually conceives a daughter named Abigail Suzanne. Abigail is the name of her still-living mother, while Suzanne is the name of her dead older sister.
  • Malevil: Defied. Angès is forbidden to name her son Emmanuel as everyone knows he is likely the father and doesn't want any additional strife among the survivors.
  • In Mermaid (2011), Christopher names his and Lenia's daughter Christina, after his late grandmother.
  • The Mermaid Chronicles: In Fight for Freedom, Cordelia decides to name her unborn son Gal, after the ancient dragon king who was killed in the fight for Atlantis.
  • Isaac Asimov and Janet Asimov's Norby's Other Secret: A downplayed example; at the end of the book, when Jeff is given Oola's egg, he decides that he'll name it Oola Two. But Oola is still alive and he hardly ever mentions the Two part, simply calling her Oola in future books.
  • In Morris Gleitzman's YA novel Now, main character Zelda's parents named her after her grandfather Felix's childhood companion who was killed during the Holocaust. Felix still feels so guilty about original Zelda's death that he refuses to call his granddaughter by this name, making up a series of nicknames for her instead.
  • One of the main themes of García Marquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude wherein the names of the Buendía family are repeated from generation to generation, and are additionally linked with certain character traits, except when there is a mix-up at birth. In fact, in no less than seven generations, in the family a grand total of two boys' names are used.
  • In George MacDonald's The Princess and the Goblin, Irene learns she was named for her (still living) great-great-grandmother.
    "My name is Irene."
    "That's my name!" cried the princess.
    "I know that. I let you have mine. I haven't got your name. You've got mine."
    "How can that be?" asked the princess, bewildered. "I've always had my name."
    "Your papa, the king, asked me if I had any objection to your having it; and, of course, I hadn't. I let you have it with pleasure."
    "It was very kind of you to give me your name—and such a pretty one," said the princess.
    "Oh, not so very kind!" said the old lady. "A name is one of those things one can give away and keep all the same."
  • In The Purple Cloud, Adam spends twenty years alone After the End before he meets the only other survivor, a young woman who has grown up as a Wild Child. He names her Clodagh, after his murderous fiancée who was indirectly responsible for the Fog of Doom that killed most of humanity, in order to remind himself that she is not to be trusted, that humanity is evil, and that giving in to his attraction to her would create a race as cruel and wicked as the one killed off by the cloud. Once the woman learns English, she objects to being named after a poisoner. Instead she asks Adam to call her Leda, a name she saw in a book.
  • Raptor Red has one in spirit, even though nobody has names. Raptor Red adopts her niece after her sister is killed, and the family resemblance is so strong she briefly confuses the two.
  • Red Queen:
    • In the third book, Farley decides that if her baby is a girl, she will name her Clara, after her late mother, while if it is a boy, she will name him Shade, after the child's late father. It turns out to be the former.
    • The Babies Ever After of Broken Throne has Mare and Cal naming their two kids Shade and Coriane (Cal's long deceased mother).
  • Red Rising: Pax au Telemaus is killed off near the end of the first book. In the third book, Mustang names her and Darrow's son after him.
  • In Redwall, Matthias decides to name his son after himself and two of his dead best friends, Methuselah and Mortimer, coming up with "Mattimeo" as a result.
  • In Remnants, Jobs named his second daughter after Tate, who died when she crashed the alien super ship so that it would become The Source and be ready for the 'regreening' of Earth.
  • John Buchan's Richard Hannay novels: Hannay's friend and mentor Peter Pienaar saves the day with a Heroic Sacrifice at the end of Mr. Standfast, and the next novel in the series, The Three Hostages, reveals that Hannay has named his first son Peter in his honor. Young Peter John Hannaynote  goes on to play a major role in The Island of Sheep.
  • Stephen King's Rose Madder has Pamela Steiner (and on top of that, she was almost Pamela Anna; her actual middle name is Gertrude, who is a still-living character).
  • In Matthew Reilly's Scarecrow trilogy, Buck "Book 2" Riley Jr. is named after his father, and is given the same call sign.
  • At the very end of A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket, Kit, just before dying, instructs the Baudelaire children to name her newborn daughter after their mother and raise her. The infant's name? Beatrice. This is stated to be a tradition of the group. According to her parents' journal entry, Violet would have been named Lemony if she'd been born a boy (at the time, Beatrice Baudelaire thought he was dead).
  • The Shadowhunter Chronicles:
    • Clary's mom, Jocelyn, is revealed to have taken her new surname, Fray, by combining her previous surname, Fairchild, with Tessa Gray's. She's very much alive, though.
    • According to the supplementary materials, Max Lightwood (Alec and Isabelle's younger brother) is named after his uncle, Maxwell, who dropped out of the Shadow World in favor of marrying a mundane girl. Unlike many other examples, the Senior outlives the Junior. Later, Alec adopts a warlock son whom he names Max.
    • Tessa Gray and Will Herondale name their son after their mutual friend Jem, who, while not dead, becomes a Silent Brother and has to part ways with them.
    • Gideon Lightwood and Sophie Collins' firstborn daughter is named after Gideon's late mother, Barbara. Their youngest child (and only son) is named after Thomas Tanner, Sophie's late mundane friend.
    • Tessa's son with Jem is named Wilhelmina Yiqiang. The first name is to honor Will, while the second is to honor Rosemary, Kit's late mother whom Jem failed to save. In the language of flowers, rosemaries symbolize remembrance, and "yiqiang" is Chinese for "remembrance".
    • According to Henry Branwell, his son Matthew is partly named after his great aunt, Matilda.
    • There are also other names which, while not explicitly confirmed, seem to be this trope. Shadowhunters put an emphasis on preserving lineage and descendants named after ancestors aren't uncommon. Jocelyn is likely named after her ancestor Henry Branwell, who has the middle name Jocelyn. Before Alec, there was another Alexander Lightwood, son of Gabriel and Cecily. A lot of Shadowhunter boys (such as Jace and Clary's brother) have the name "Jonathan" because it's the name of the very first Shadowhunter, Jonathan Shadowhunter.
    • After he found out that Jocelyn's baby was a girl, Valentine muses that he would have named her "Seraphina," after his late mother. Jocelyn beat him to it by naming her "Clarissa" instead.
  • Sunny from Shine Shine Shine names her son Bubber after her missionary father Bob, who was executed on the orders of Ne Win when Sunny was three, and her daughter Emma after her mother, who dies of cancer shortly before Emma's birth.
  • In Small Persons with Wings, naming kids after contemporaries of Charlemagne is a Turpin family tradition. Mellie's dad, Roly, was named after Roland, one of the paladins of Charlemagne. Mellie was named after Melissa, a priestess of Merlin. Her middle name, Angelica, comes from a princess of Cathay who is featured in legends about Charlemagne.
  • In Son, the last book in Lois Lowry's The Giver series, we learn that Jonas and Kira, the protagonists of books 1 and 2 respectively, got married and named their children after good friends of theirs who died in books 2 and 3: Annabelle and Matthew.
  • Numerous examples in A Song of Ice and Fire:
    • Daenerys planned to name her son Rhaego, after her brother Rhaegar (only altered to suit Dothraki naming conventions). After he is stillborn and Khal Drogo dies, she names her three dragons after her dead brothers and husband, though again with slight alterations (Drogo = Drogon, Rhaegar = Rhaegal, Viserys = Viserion).
    • Cersei Lannister from the same series lampshades this trope when she runs into two women on the same morning, both looking to name their soon-to-be-born sons after her late father Tywin:
      Another one? Lickspittles like you will drown the realm in Tywins.
    • The Starks:
      • Eddard Stark named his son Bran after his late brother, Brandon. He might have named Rickon, Arya, and Sansa after dead relatives, as well,note  though this is unconfirmed.
      • When the Tyrells plan to marry Sansa to their eldest son Willas, she imagines having children named Eddard and Brandon and Rickon, after her dead father and brothers (her brothers are in fact still alive, but she doesn't know that).
      • Cregan Stark, who led the Hour of the Wolf in the aftermath of the Dance of the Dragons, named his heir, Rickon, after his late father.
    • The Targaryens have a tradition of naming children after dead relatives:
      • There are a great many Aegons, most of whom are named after Aegon the Conqueror. Aegon II and III were both named after the Conqueror, as were Aegon the Uncrowned (the only one to have been born when the Conqueror was still alive), Jaehaerys I's eldest son, and Viserys I's youngest brother. An exception is Aegon IV, who was named after his father's then-still-living brother, Aegon III.
      • In addition to Aegon, Jaehaerys I named his daughter Alyssa after his late mother, Alyssa Velaryon, while his son Gaemon was named after Gaemon the Glorious, husband of Daenys the Dreamer. Another son, Baelon, was named after a great uncle of Aegon the Conqueror. Baelon Jr., who died young, would in turn inspire the names of his two grandchildren, Baelon (Viserys I's only son who died in the cradle) and Baela (Daemon's daughter with Laena Velaryon).
      • Jaehaerys I's older sister, Rhaena, was named after their paternal grandmother, Queen Rhaenys.
      • Queen Rhaenyra's third son, Joffrey, was named after Joffrey Lonmouth, a knight and lover of his father, Laenor Velaryon. Laenor tried to use the name for his first son (born the same year Joffrey Lonmouth died), but this was vetoed by his father, Corlys, who thought it was improper to have a Velaryon heir named after an outsider.
      • Princess Baela named one of her children with Alyn Velaryon after her mother, Laena, who died fourteen years before she was born.
      • Daemon I Blackfyre was named after his great-grandfather Daemon Targaryen, a prominent member of the Blacks during the Dance of the Dragons.
      • Maester Aemon was named by his grandfather, Daeron II, after his own uncle, Aemon the Dragonknight, who was rumored to be his real father.
      • Daenerys was named after her great-great-great-aunt, the legitimate daughter of Aegon IV, who married a prince of Dorne and became ancestor to modern-day Martells. When Quentyn Martell tries to court Daenerys, he mentions this fact.
    • Corlys Velaryon, the Sea Snake, was named after his great-great uncle, the First Lord Commander of the Kingsguard.
    • The oldest of Oberyn Martell and Ellaria Sand's four daughters is named Elia, presumably after Oberyn's sister-who died two years before she was born.
    • Davos Seaworth's youngest son is named Steffon, after his liege lord's father.
    • One of Lady Mormont's daughters is Lyanna Mormont, named after the late Lyanna Stark.
    • After Maester Aemon's death, Gilly plans to name Mance Rayder's son Aemon Steelsong on his second nameday, as per wildling custom.
  • A Sorrow Fierce and Falling: Henrietta decides to name hers and George Blackwood's son after Rook, using his original name, Stephen.
  • Miss Quentin in The Sound and the Fury, whose conception was the event which drove her uncle Quentin Compson to suicide.
  • In The Stand, Frannie names her baby Peter after her father, who died during the plague. In the 1994 miniseries, it's a girl and she names her Abagail, after Mother Abagail.
  • Star Trek Novelverse:
  • Star Wars Legends:
    • Anakin Solo was named after his mother's father, who died killing the Emperor before Leia married Han.
    • Han Solo also named his daughter Jaina after his mother, Jaina, who had died when Han was seven.
    • Ben Skywalker, named after his father's former master Obi-Wan "Ben" Kenobi.
    • In the New Jedi Order series, Soontir and Syal Antilles Fel named one of their sons Jagged, after Syal's father who died alongside her mother while doing a Heroic Sacrifice.
    • Jedi Master Corran Horn names his son Valin after his dead father.
  • In Charles Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities, Sydney Carton foresees that Charles and Lucy Darnay will have a son whom they will name for him.
  • Somewhat at the end of Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing. After a long ordeal when Fudge eats Peter's pet turtle, Dribble, Peter's parents decide to make it up to him by buying him a dog. Peter ends up naming him Turtle to remember.
  • In the Tennis Shoes Adventure series, Jim names his son after two very brave, dead warriors - Gidgiddonihah Teancum. (The former was a close friend who died saving Jim's older son's life. The book series is all about time travel though, so Gid gets better. Teancum... not so much.)
  • Claudia from A Thread of Grace names her child after her recently dead father Alberto. The baby dies two days later—it was born premature.
  • In Poul Anderson's "Time Lag," Elva is told at the end that her son survived, had a son who was named for her dead husband, and who in turn had her great-grandson, who was named for her (still living) son.
  • In Time Scout, Kit's ex-girlfriend named his unknown daughter Kitty.
  • Tamora Pierce's Tortall books are edging into their third generation. The juniors so far include Thom, Alan, Alianne (a portmanteau of "Alanna" and "Lianne" according to Word of God), Roald (a royal name, so justified), Kalasin, Liam, Lianne, and potentially Mequen. The above Alianne finally broke the trend, naming her half-crow triplets after variations of the names of three dead compatriots, incidentally three generations of the same family. Actually, the portmanteau namesakes are getting pretty common in and of themselves.
  • In Vanity Fair by Thackeray George Osborne dies in the battle of Waterloo, and his wife Amelia names their son George.
  • Several examples in the works of V. C. Andrews:
    • Dollanganger Series: There's a lot of name reusing in this family. Most—but not all—of these kids are born after the deaths of their namesakes:
      • Garland Christopher Foxworth aka Chris Sr. (Cathy's father) was named after his father Garland.
      • Chris Jr. (Cathy's brother) is named Christopher Dollanganger after his father. (That was the name his father had at the time of his son's birth.)
      • Corrine (Cathy's mother) is named after her grandmother, her father's mother.
        Joel: My father's mother was named Corrine. My sister had the same name, given to her as a form of punishment, a constant reminder to my father of his unfaithful mother, proving to him again and again that no beautiful woman could be trusted—how right he was.
      • Corrine's brother was named Malcolm, after their father. They called him Mal.
      • Cathy names her elder son Julian Janus Marquet, after his father Julian Marquet. They call him Jory though, a portmanteau of Julian and Cory—Cory after Cathy's brother.
      • Carrie planned to name her firstborn son after her twin brother Cory, but never had a son.
      • Cathy's younger son, Bartholomew Scott Winslow Sheffield, is Bartholomew Winslow after his biological father and Scott Sheffield after his stepfather.
      • Jory plans to name his next child after his parents. Both are dead by the time the child will be born.
        Jory: Toni is pregnant! You don't know what that does for me. If we have a boy, he will be called Christopher. If we have a girl, she will be Catherine. Now don't you say we can't do that, for we will anyway.
    • My Sweet Audrina: Audrina Adare is supposedly named after an elder sister who died. It turns out Audrina's family is lying to her; the "First Audrina" never existed.
    • Casteel Series: Downplayed example when Heaven is middle-named Leigh after her deceased mother.
    • The later Flanderized, ghostwritten books:
      • Casteel Series has Luke Junior (named after his grandfather) and Annie Stonewall (named after the first Luke's mother; step-grandmother to Annie's mother Heaven.) Annie's name is lampshaded as Logan and Tony point out that this is a nickname, and try to suggest that Heaven name her Anne instead.
      • In the Landry Series, Ruby names her twin sons Pierre and Jean, after her late father and his twin brother.
      • Willow DeBeers's daughter is named Hannah after Willow's mother Grace (since the name Hannah means "grace")
      • In the Cutler Series, Dawn Cutler was named Eugenia at birth, after a sister of her step-grandmother's.
      • Celeste and her daughter "Baby Celeste" in the Gemini series, though the elder Celeste does not die but is sent to a mental institution.
  • In Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan Saga:
    • Among the Barrayaran aristocracy, the first son receives the first names of his maternal and paternal grandfathers, and the second son receives their middle names, which can sometimes lead to examples of this trope — though, during the series, Barrayar is politically stable and has good enough medicine that most people seem to live to meet their grandchildren, so it usually doesn't. Miles Vorkosigan himself (named exclusively for his maternal grandfather as his paternal grandfather rejects him) is one of the few real examples that come out of the convention.
    • Elena Bothari(-Jesek) is an apparent example, except that her mother turns out to be alive after all.
    • Olivia and Kareen Koudelka are genuine examples, both named after dead royalty. (As for their two sisters, Delia is presumably named after Cordelia Vorkosigan, who's not dead, and it's unclear who if anyone Martya might be named after.)
    • In Cryoburn, there's Taura Vorkosigan, named after a friend and colleague of her father's who died young.
  • Warrior Cats:
    • Warrior Cats has one of Sorreltail's litter. The camp is attacked by badgers, which are trying to get into the nursery as she is kitting. Cinderpelt dies protecting her and the kits. When telling Leafpool her picks for names, a gray kitnote  is named in her honor as Cinderkit. However, it turns out she IS Cinderpelt reincarnated as her niece so she could Set Right What Once Went Wrong in her life and be a warrior.
    • Another example occurs in the next generation. Out of that same litter that included Cinderkit, Molekit died. Cinderkit and Molekit's littermate Poppyfrost ends up naming her son after her dead brother.
    • Fernsong, Sorrelstripe, and Hollytuft were all named after cats who died in the Dark Forest battle. (Ferncloud, Sorreltail, and Hollyleaf). Sorreltail was their grandmother, and Hollyleaf was their aunt, and mother's best friend.
  • Watership Down: One of Fiver's children is named Threar, presumably in honor of the destroyed Sandleford Warren's chief rabbit, the Threarah (Lord Threar).
  • Wicked: Sheltergod "Shell" Thropp was named after Melena and Frexspar's mutual lover, Turtle Heart. Turtle Heart was murdered five years prior in a Human Sacrifice.
  • Wuthering Heights: Catherine Linton, daughter of the more famous Cathy beloved by Heathcliff, is named after her mother, who died giving birth to her. Heathcliff himself is named after an Earnshaw son who had died in infancy. Also, Hareton Earnshaw is named after his ancestor who built Wuthering Heights back in 1500.

    Live-Action TV 
  • Farscape:
    • When Moya gives birth to another Leviathan, Aeryn Sun decides to name it after her father Talyn. The only reason she knew his name was because her mother Xhalax Sun visited her at night in the children's barracks and revealed this information. Unfortunately this conversation was overheard and Xhalax was ordered to execute Talyn to prove her loyalty. When she finally meets her daughter she's a hardened Peacekeeper assassin and sneers at Aeryn's sentimental gesture, saying she should just shoot her on the spot and name her Prowler after her.
    • In the miniseries finale, Crichton and Aeryn name their son "D'Argo Sun-Crichton", after their friend D'Argo who dies during the finale. That child would be beaten mercilessly when he goes to space-school, if his mom wasn't scary. Then again, it's ''in space''. With "Zhaan's", "Chiana's", "Joolushku's" and "Bialar's" around every turn, it might not be that weird a name. After all, Aeryn's first suggestion was so guttural not even the closed captioning tried to spell it. But she was joking then. Maybe.
  • The West Wing: Toby's daughter is named after a Secret Service agent killed during the kidnapping of the President's daughter. Unusually for this trope, Toby had twins, but only one person died. Unfortunate for the boy, though, as he got named Huck. Yes, it's short for Huckleberry.
  • In the Stargate SG-1 episode where Dr. Janet Fraiser dies, the child of the soldier she died saving is named after her.
  • In season three of Heroes we learn that Sylar names his future son Noah. Although that timeline probably was averted by later events.
  • A fifth-season episode of Lost reveals that Desmond and Penny's son is named after Charlie, who died at the end of season three.
  • Battlestar Galactica: While the namesake was very much alive, it being an Anyone Can Die series and with Saul Tigh not being the youngest of the crew, he wanted to be prepared: he was going to name his son by Caprica Six, "Liam" - short for William, after his best friend Bill Adama. Unfortunately it was Liam who died when Saul's affections went from Six back to his resurrected wife, making Bill Dead Guy Senior.
  • As revealed in Caprica, Bill is Dead Guy Junior twice over, named after his paternal grandfather and his paternal half-brother.
  • Occurs in Mad Men with the twist that everyone but the mother hates the name. Betty names the baby after her father, whom her husband Don hated and her young daughter Sally loved. Don resents honoring the man, while Sally, already blown away by his death, is freaked out by having a replacement sleeping in her grandpa's own room and taking his name.
  • Knots Landing: A rather bizarre example given later developments. In "The Christening", Valene names her son Bobby in honour of Gary's late brother Bobby Ewing, who was killed by Katherine Wentworth in the Dallas episode "Swan Song". Although Bobby was resurrected by virtue of the Dream Season revelation, his namesake nephew retained his name.
  • On The X-Files, Scully names her son William, after Mulder's father. This was probably done as a way to confirm William's paternity; since Scully wasn't supposed to be able to get pregnant, there is a Who's Your Daddy? thread to season 8. It would be an odd tribute since given all we learn about Bill Mulder over the course of the series and how he treats his son, he's not really the kind of guy you'd want to name your kid after. He's not Mulder's biological father. William is also the name of her father and older brother, both called Bill. Baby William is the only William in the series not to be called "Bill" or "Billy."
  • Supernatural main characters Dean and Sam Winchester are named after their mother's dead parents, Samuel and Deanna Campbell.
    • In the finale, Sam has a son named after Dean.
  • Bones:
    • We find out in the second Gravedigger episode that Booth's son Parker was named after a dead war buddy. When said war buddy's ghost (or brain tumor-induced hallucination) teases him about this, Booth gruffly points out that Parker was his friend's last name.
    • One of the names that Angela and Hodgins' baby gets is Vincent, after Vincent Nigel-Murray, the lab intern who was killed in the episode prior to his birth.
    • Both of Booth and Brennan's children are this. Their daughter is named Christine Angela Booth, after her mother. And their son is named Hank Jr., after Booth's grandfather.
    • Daisy's son is named Seeley Lance Wick-Sweets, Lance Sweets being his recently killed father.
  • Ezel: Ali and Azad name their son after their friend Tevfik, who died not only the day before, but in the exact spot his namesake was born.
  • Game of Thrones:
    • In "The Rains of Castamere," Talisa suggests to her husband, King Robb, that if her unborn child is a boy, they should name him Eddard, after Robb's father who was executed by Joffrey. Minutes later, mother, father, and child are all dead in the now-infamous "Red Wedding".
    • While there have been countless Brandon Starks throughout history, Bran is named for his father's older brother, whose brutal murder by the Mad King helped spark Robert's Rebellion.
    • Daenerys names her son Rhaego after her brother the late Prince Rhaegar, with the termination changed to reflect Dothraki naming customs, and continues the theme with her dragons: Drogon (Drogo), Viserion (Viserys), and Rhaegal (Rhaegar), all people that she loved and knew.
    • Oberyn named one of his daughters Elia after the sister he lost in the Sack of King's Landing. Cersei ponders if the girl's troublesome attitude is related to her very name inciting grief and anger in her father.
    • Lyanna Mormont. Discussed when Sansa attempts, largely in vain, to instigate some small talk by mentioning the young Lady Mormont was specifically named for her late aunt, Lyanna Stark.
  • House of the Dragon: Joffrey Velaryon is named after Ser Joffrey Lonmouth, the dead lover of Joffrey's legal father Laenor Velaryon.
  • In Alias, Sydney and Vaughn's son is named Jack.
  • Charmed:
    • In the episode that was intended to be the series finale, Paige is assigned to protect an innocent named Joanna, but she fails at it and Jo dies. In the next season, there's a five-or-six-episode Story Arc that involves the Charmed Ones taking on false names, and Paige's pseudonym was Jo. It's apparent that Paige was naming herself after this dead friend of hers, and while this is never hinted at in the show's text, it's enough of a Fridge Brilliance that it was probably completely intentional on the writers' part.
    • In the comics, Phoebe's daughter P.J. ("Prudence Johanna") is named after Prue, her dead older sister (who also happened to have been named after a long-dead ancestor). Before that, on the show, Wyatt would have been "Prudence Melinda" had he been a girl. (When Piper finally does have a daughter, she's just Melinda, which is still an example as she was named after the first witch in their family line.)
    • Chris was named after Leo's father. Wyatt got his name from his father's surname, and since Leo was technically dead the whole time...
  • A meta-example from Frasier: in the series finale, Niles and Daphne named their baby David. This is after David Angell, co-creator of the show, who died in the 9/11 attacks.
  • At the end of Bakuryuu Sentai Abaranger Asuka names his infant daughter Mikoto after Sixth Ranger Nakadai Mikoto.
  • In Prison Break, Sara's son is called Michael, after his father Michael Scofield, who is killed in the series finale.
  • On Newhart, Larry wound up having two brothers named Darryl because of this trope. The older Darryl was carried off by a mountain lion as a baby, and his parents, presuming him dead, named their next child after him. Then the mountain lion returned the first Darryl because he couldn't hunt worth a darn.
  • NCIS:
    • Leroy Jethro Gibbs is named after a friend of his father's. Downplayed in the sense that his father's friend is still alive.
    • Tony apparently named a fish after Kate.
    • Ziva named her daughter with Tony after her deceased sister Tali.
    • When Delilah and Timothy McGee give birth to twin babies in "Ready or Not", they name the boy Johnny, after McGee's late father, and they name the girl Morgan, after a security guard McGee befriended with who was killed by a terrorist earlier that day.
  • Star Trek
    • Star Trek: The Next Generation: Troi's temporary baby, Ian Andrew, after her deceased father.
    • Star Trek: Voyager:
      • In the series finale, B'Elanna and Tom's newborn daughter is named Miral, after B'Elanna's dead mom.
      • Also in the finale, in an aborted future timeline, the Doctor finally chooses a name for himself: Joe, after his new wife's grandfather.
    • Star Trek: Enterprise: Trip and T'Pol's temporary baby, Elizabeth, after Trip's recently murdered sister.
    • Star Trek: Picard:
      • Riker and Troi name their son Thaddeus, after Riker's Civil War ancestor Colonel Thaddius Riker (the same one whose life was saved by a Q), and their daughter Kestra, after Troi's older sister, who drowned as a child.
      • The synth cat Spot II is named after Spot, Data's orange tabby.
      • Beverly Crusher named her second son Jack after her late first husband.
  • In Chinese Paladin, Ling'er and Xiaoyao's daughter is named after Yue'Ru.
  • Dexter: The eponymous Dexter's son, who is born in season 4, is named Harrison after Dexter's adoptive father (although he's commonly nicknamed Harry, Word of God has stated that his full name is Harrison).
  • In Stargate Atlantis, Teyla names her new baby "Torren" for her deceased father (and "John" for her teammate and rescuer though he's still very much alive.)
  • Once Upon a Time:
    • Henry is named after his adoptive mother's dead father. Whom she murdered. His middle name is Daniel, after a man his adoptive mother was in love with. Whom her mother murdered.
    • Snow and Charming name their son Neal, after their adult daughter's ex-boyfriend and the father of their grandson, whom they did not personally know very well but whose recent Heroic Sacrifice had saved everyone in town.
    • Zelena names her baby daughter after Robin, who is killed by Hades shortly after everyone returns from the Underworld.
    • In Season 7, the Wish Realm version of Killian Jones names his daughter Alice, after his long-deceased mother.
  • Grey's Anatomy:
    • Dr. Bailey gives her son Tucker the middle name George, as her husband wasn't present at the birth and George was the one who stood by her through it. Inverted though, as George's death didn't occur until a few seasons later and it was unplanned.
    • Meredith and Derek's second daughter is named for her deceased mother, Ellis.
  • Season 7 of How I Met Your Mother had Marshall and Lily name their son Marvin after Marshall's father who died a year earlier.
  • In Season 3 of Downton Abbey Lady Sybil dies soon after childbirth and Branson names their daughter after her.
  • Played with in an episode of season 3 of The Walking Dead (2010). When Lori's baby is born, killing her in the process, and Rick snaps and goes on a zombie-killing spree inside the prison, Carl and Daryl talk for a moment about the baby's name. Carl suggests the names of their fallen female friends, such as Amy or Sophia, but doesn't decide on one in the end. A couple of episodes later, Carl decides to name her Judith after his favorite school teacher, and Rick approves.
  • Ryan tries this in Castle when he thinks he and Esposito are going to die trapped in a building while his wife is in labor. He tells his wife to name their baby "Javier" if it's a boy, after his best friend. Esposito immediately counters with "You're going to name a white Irish kid 'Javier'?"
  • Done rather horrifyingly on one episode of Criminal Minds. A couple lost their infant son Michael and were unable to have more children. They take to kidnapping young women who resemble the wife; the husband rapes the women until they are pregnant. If the woman gives birth to a girl, he murders her and abandons the baby at a church. If she gives birth to a boy, she's allowed to live (and be forced into another pregnancy). The baby boy is always named Michael.
  • The Grand Finale of White Collar revealed that the Burkes named their newborn son Neal. However, the final scene reveals that Mr. Caffery faked his death.
  • Law & Order: UK. DS Ronnie Brooks gushes to partner DS Matt Devlin about the birth of his grandson and the possibility of reconciling with his estranged daughter, minutes before Devlin is killed in a drive-by shooting, forever juxtaposing one of the best moments of his life with one of the worst. (It really doesn't help that he considered Matt himself to be "like. . .my son.") A year later, while spending the day with his other estranged daughter, they discuss the little boy and one of them off-handedly mentions that his name is "Matthew", obviously in memory of Matt.
  • On Grimm, Nick's son is named "Kelly" in honor of Nick's recently killed mother. In the Grand Finale, his mother's ghost tells him that she likes it.
  • Call the Midwife.
    • Played with in one episode. The mother of the Baby of the Week wants to give her child the same name as her late mother, but her Chinese mother-in-law objects because, in her culture, naming a child after a dead person is considered unlucky. As a compromise, the child is given a name that sounds similar to the one the mother wanted to use.
    • An accidental example occurs in a later episode. The mother of a newborn girl named her daughter Barbara, as she felt that the name was just "floating in the air". Nurse Barbara Hereward died of meningitis in the previous episode.
  • In Sons of Anarchy, Tara names her son Thomas after Jax's deceased brother.
  • In Roseanne's revival seasons, Mark is dead, but Darlene and David named their son after him. There's also DJ's daughter Mary, who was named after Nana Mary.
  • In The Handmaid's Tale, June names her daughter Holly after her mother, who was presumably killed by the regime.
  • Arrowverse:
    • In Arrow:
      • Lyla and John Diggle decide to name their newborn daughter Sara in honor of Sara Lance, the recently deceased Black Canary. Then Sara comes back to life. And then Flash changes history and they never had a daughter, they've got a son named John Jr. Finally, Sara comes back in the post-Crisis Earth Prime, and J.J. stays as well.
      • Mia Smoak is actually short for Moira Smoak, Moira being the name of Ollie's late mother.
    • In Legends of Tomorrow:
      • Martin Stein's newborn grandson is named Ronnie, after the deceased Ronnie Raymond, who was his first partner as Firestorm.
      • Later on, after Stein dies, Jefferson Jackson has a daughter whom he names Martina.
    • In The Flash, the mysterious girl who's been showing up throughout the fourth season is eventually revealed to be Barry and Iris' daughter from the future, named Nora after Barry's late mother. Partially an Adaptation Name Change as Barry and Iris' daughter in the comics is called Dawn, but also partially a result of being a Composite Character of Barry and Iris's daughter Dawn, a daughter called Nora who Barry had with another woman in a different continuity, and Jenni Ognats, Dawn's daughter who uses the codename XS, which Nora uses in the show.
    • Supergirl: After moving to the 31st century, Winn gets married and has a daughter, whom he names Mary after his mother. Zigzagged in that, while his mother is still alive in the 21st century, she's, obviously, long-dead a thousand years later.
    • Crisis on Infinite Earths reveals that, as in the comics, Clark and Lois name their son Jonathan, after Clark's deceased adopted father. After the Crisis, the couple has twins, with the other son being named Jordan, after Clark's deceased biological father, Jor-El. Fittingly, the one named after the alien father is the one who starts developing powers.
  • In the Midnight Caller episode "A Cry in the Night," a woman names her daughter Rayna, after her murdered husband Ray.
  • Danny Williams's daughter Grace in Hawaii Five-0 was named after his former cop partner who was killed shortly before she was born.
  • An episode of CSI involves the victim a pregnant teenager Maria Driven to Suicide, leading to CSI Nick and coroner Dr. Robbins having to perform an impromptu emergency C-section and CPR when they realize the baby itself isn’t also dead yet. After determining what lead to her suicide (a combination of her father’s death, her neglectful mother, her jock boyfriend and baby’s father dumping her, which itself was a result after being cyberbullied with a viral humiliating video of her by the popular cheerleader and boyfriend’s ex-girlfriend), the boyfriend has a change of heart and chooses to raise their baby daughter, naming her Maria.
  • St. Elsewhere: Dr. Westphall's children Tommy and Lizzie are named after his late parents.
  • Lucifer: Towards the end of season four, Linda and Amenadiel decide to name their newborn baby Charlie in honor of their friend Charlotte Richards who died at the end of the previous season after Taking the Bullet for Amenadiel.
  • The last scene of the Grand Finale of Only Fools and Horses reveals that Rodney and Cassandra's daughter is named Joan, after Del and Rodney's mum.
  • Gentefied: When Erik's and Lidia's child is born, they name her Delfina after Erik's late grandmother.
  • Heartbeat: Kate is diagnosed with Leukemia, but because she is pregnant refuses treatment and ultimately dies, though she does successfully have the baby. They were originally going to call her Sarah, but Nick decides to call her Katie, with Sarah as a middle name.
  • The Rookie (2018): Angela and Wesley's baby son is named Jackson after her late colleague.
  • Ghosts (US): Pete died when his daughter Laura was just a little girl. When she had a son, she named him Pete.
  • Ghost Whisperer: Melinda and Jim name their son Aiden Lucas, Aiden being Jim's late father and Lucas after Sam Lucas, the late man whose physical body is currently being used by Jim after Jim died in season 4 and his ghost stepped into Sam's dead body after Sam's spirit crossed over into the afterlife while EM Ts were trying to revive him, allowing Jim to be "reincarnated".
  • Willow: Airk, son of Madmartigan and Sorsha, is named after Madmartigan's friend Airk, who'd died in the war with Bavmorda.
  • Your Honor: Adam and Fia's son in Season 2 is named after her brother Rocco, who died before he was born.

    Theatre 
  • In Strange Interlude, Nina never gets over the fact that Gordon Shaw died in the war without leaving her with Someone to Remember Him By. So when she gets married and has a son, she names him Gordon. He doesn't resemble his father Sam all that much, because Nina aborted Sam's baby and had one by Darrell instead.
  • This is where most of the confusion comes from in The Comedy of Errors: Thinking her son Antipholus is dead, she names her surviving son (his twin)... Antipholus. Then she does the same to his servant, who also had a twin brother. Why the other kids had names and they didn't is never explained.
  • Mrs. Hawking play series: Nathaniel's son is named Reginald Prescott Hawking II, after his beloved uncle the Colonel.
  • In Allegiance Kei and Frankie name their daughter Hanako (frequently shortened to Hana) after the internment camp’s nurse, Hannah, who was one of the few staff workers that always kindly took care of them and who was accidentally shot during a scuffle between Frankie and a few of the camp’s armed guards.
  • In Fiddler on the Roof, in keeping with Jewish tradition, Tevye and Golde's eldest daughter Tzeitel is named after Golde's deceased grandmother, while her love interest Motel, whose full name is Mordachai, is named after a deceased great-uncle.

    Tabletop Games 
  • A common but strongly discouraged practice in roleplaying games is for the Munchkin to name their new character after their old dead character. If Dudefella gets croaked by an Orc, another character with the exact same skills named "Dudefella II" appears to replace him! How amazing!

    Video Games 
  • At the end of Wild ARMs 2, the newborn babies of the protagonist Ashley and his Love interest Marina are named after their commander and his sister who sacrificed their lives near the end of the game.
  • Part of the finale in the (intentionally corny) Show Within a Game Lords and Ladies in Max Payne.
  • Final Fantasy X: Yuna is named after Lady "Yunalesca", one of the most famous summoners of all time. Turns out that Yunalesca was and still is evil.
  • Valkyria Chronicles: Welkin ends up naming his daughter Isara after his adopted sister who died in battle.
  • Billy's name is never expanded upon in the original Call of Juarez but in the prequel, we learn that Ray and Thomas McCall had a younger brother named William whom Ray killed but it was half Thomas' fault, as well. Obviously, Billy (who was born shortly after that) was named after him.
  • Fire Emblem:
    • Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn has one of these in the Japanese version: It turned out that Ena had somehow gotten pregnant from her (now) deceased fiance, Rajaion (to be fair, they're both Dragons so the pregnancy probably took FAR longer than a normal human one). The child turned out to be a boy, and it's easy to guess what followed.
    • In Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade, Hector intends to invoke this in the epilogue of his story when he talks to the player, to name his first child after his brother Uther. It's averted because his wife ends up having a daughter, the Magical Girl Warrior Lilina.
    • Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia: This is one of the three possible outcomes of the Gray/Clair/Tobin Love Triangle. If both Gray and Clair survive the war but Tobin falls in battle, after Clair helps Gray recover from a deep drunken depression coming from his best friend's death, they marry and name their firstborn son after Tobin.
  • Though it doesn't actually happen, in the ending of Super Robot Wars: Original Generation 2, Excellen mentions to Kyosuke that she wants to get married and have a daughter named Alfimi/Alchimie. If you saw a certain hidden scene slightly earlier in the game, she instead says she wants two daughters, with the second being named Lemon. Both of these characters were clones/copies of Excellen, so it's only fitting that they be remembered as part of her family.
    • An official Yonkoma adds to the joke by her say "If it's a son... how about Axel?" to which Kyosuke agrees.
  • A villainous example is Purge Junior from Space Channel 5 Part 2. He's Purge's son apparently and looks exactly like him. The awkward part? Purge is only 18 years old and he isn't really dead.
  • The Revenge ending of Grand Theft Auto IV has a post-credits gameplay phonecall from Roman, who insists that if his and Mallorie's coming child is a girl they'll name her after Niko's late love interest Kate, who was the victim of a drive-by shooting that hit their wedding.
  • SaGa Frontier 2: Given that Gustave was born of nobility, he's the thirteenth of his line, and a few other characters share his name.
  • Dragon Age:
    • Dragon Age: Origins:
      • The male Dwarf Noble Warden can have an Optional Sexual Encounter with a noble hunter note  very early in the game. Upon returning to Orzammar later, he will learn that she has borne him a child from that. If he helps her into nobility, he can decide to give the child a name. Among the choices are his own name, the name of his recently deceased mentor, his dead older brother, his dead father, or his exiled Second.
      • If playing as a Dwarven Commoner, speaking to your sister Rica will reveal that Bhelen also names their son "Endrin" after his father note .
      • In the epilogue, it's observed that Arl Eamon, if his son Connor is killed during the Redcliffe arc, has another child with his wife Isolde. This second child is a girl and named Rowan, in memory of Eamon's late sister, the Queen.
      • If the Warden successfully helps Oghren woo his second wife Felsi, and then dies in the endgame, one epilogue slide reveals that Oghren and Felsi have a child whom they name after the Warden.
    • Dragon Age II:
      • The main character's brother Carver is revealed to be named after a Templar with whom his mage father had had a strong friendship. This is only mentioned in playthroughs where Hawke is a mage.
      • It's not stated in the game, but Word of God confirms that Carver's twin sister Bethany is named for their maternal grandmother, Bethann Amell, who died the same week they were born.
    • Dragon Age: Inquisition reveals that Connor is this trope, having been named after Eamon's late father. This initially caused a minor continuity error, as the character was originally named Rendorn. Word of God solved this by claiming that Connor was Rendorn's lover, and Eamon saw both men as his father.
  • The backstory to Zelda II: The Adventure of Link informs us that there's a law in Hyrule for princesses to be named in honor of the "sleeping" Zelda in the game. As Link and Zelda are constantly reincarnated from previous bearers of the name, all but the first Link and Zelda are this. That is, assuming Link is actually named "Link".
  • In Mass Effect 3, When Mordin sacrifices himself to cure the genophage, Wrex and Eve, if they're alive, plan on naming one of the children they're now sure to have after him.
  • In Octopath Traveler II, Cateracta the Sea Serpent is killed by the Dark Hunter before the event of the story, where Ochette takes in its child and names it Acta.
  • In World of Warcraft, Anduin Llane Wrynn, prince of Stormwind, gets his first name from Anduin Lothar, the leader of the Alliance in the second war (who was killed by Orgrim Doomhammer), and his middle name from his paternal grandfather Llane (who was assassinated by Garona).
    • And in an alternate timeline, Uther Menethil, son of Arthas and Jaina, is named for his father's deceased paladin mentor.
  • In the finale of Unterwegs in Düsterburg, Grandy and Libra name their child either Taria or Maltha depending on who didn't survive the fight against Wahnfried and the Dark God.
  • In the Pirates of the Savage Sea expansion of Heroes of Might and Magic VI, Crag Hack's campaign ends with him reconciling with Jon Morgan, the paladin pursuing him whom he earlier discovered was his son by his late former lover Anne "Spitfire" Morgan. Jon reveals that he's about to become a father himself. Crag suggests the name "Anne" if the baby is a girl. Jon says he and his wife already agreed to do that, but warns his father that his wife insists on naming the baby after her father Rufus (a baron Crag once humiliated in the past) if he's a boy. Crag is rather surprised to discover that his son married the daughter of an old foe of his.
  • Parodied in Tales from the Borderlands, where after Rhys' Loader Bot Holds The Line so he and Vaughn can get away, Rhys states that he will name his firstborn Loader Bot in honor of his sacrifice.
    Rhys: ... Or maybe not.
  • Dynasties in Crusader Kings will frequently recycle the names of fathers and grandfathers (as rulers of the time frequently did), which can have unforeseen consequences if you gave a character a joke name. It also covers regnal names such as those used by Catholic popes: one player reported a son of a pope (from a marriage predating his investiture as a bishop) naming his son Honorius after grandpa.
  • In What Remains of Edith Finch, Edith mentions that her mother once told her if she had been a boy, her name would have been Gus, after her mom's younger brother.
  • Gears of War 4 stars JD Fenix, the son of former protagonist Marcus Fenix. The D stands for Dominic, as in Dominic Santiago, Marcus's former Bash Brother who committed a Heroic Sacrifice in Gears of War 3.
  • Nathan Drake from Uncharted named his daughter Cassie after his mother, Cassandra Morgan, who died from suicide when he was a kid.
  • God of War (PS4): Kratos eventually reveals he named his son Atreus after a Spartan soldier who was a friend of his and sacrificed his life to save his comrades. Kratos goes on at great length about how Atreus of Sparta wasn't just a fine soldier, but a good man and an incurable optimist; in the dour war machine of Sparta, he always had a smile and a kind word. He tells his son the story of the man's life and death with pride, and it's clear these are the traits he hoped his son would embody.
  • In Persona 2, Reiji Kido decides to name his unborn son Takashi, a portmanteau of his own name and the name of his deceased half-brother Takahisa Kandori (the last character in both Kidos' names can be alternatively read as "ji" or "shi"). It shows how much Reiji's perception of Takahisa has changed since the start of the first game, where the two were trying to kill each other.
  • Yes, Your Grace: One of the game's objectives is for the Player Character to produce a male heir. The conception of the baby itself is a mandatory part of the plot, but completing the steps to counter the spell forcing all the Queen's children to be female is optional. The Player Character also has a daughter who dies before her youngest sibling's birth regardless of route. If the baby ends up being female, she can be named after her deceased older sister.
  • Blaster Master Zero III: As a Mythology Gag to Blasting Again, Eve names her children Roddy and Elfie after ANDREIA's dead MA pilot and support droid from her encounter in Planade-G from the last game.
  • Lyesh from Worlds Apart was named after her father, Lysha, who was killed by Mantians before she was born.

    Visual Novels 
  • At the end of Psycholonials, Z and Abby name their horse Percy, after their ally who died midway through the story. Z notes that since they can't adopt children together, Percy is the closest thing they have to a child.
  • The Good Ending to an unused version of Shizune's arc in Katawa Shoujo have Shizune and Hisao discussing future baby names. They talk about naming their future daughter after Shiina Mikado, better known as "Misha", who was Driven to Suicide in the third act of the arc.
  • In one ending of Zero Time Dilemma Sigma and Diana name one of their children after Phi, their dead friend and teammate. Baby Phi and Adult Phi are the same person. Time travel is involved. It's complicated.

    Webcomics 
  • In Girl Genius, Bill Heterodyne named his son "Klaus Barry" after his younger brother and his best friend Klaus Wulfenbach. Over two years after Klaus vanished, as the old family seneschal takes pains to make clear. Considering Lucrezia was very close to Klaus before he went missing, this was something that apparently needed to be pointed out quite often.
  • Davan McIntire of Something*Positive is named for his grandfather's cousin, who was killed quite graphically in the early 1940s. The elder Davan was also the star of a Spin-Off strip running 70 years in the past, though it's been dormant for years. Davan's father Fred also had a wife and son who were killed prior to his marrying Davan's mother, and some fans thought that perhaps Davan was named for his dead half-brother; the author of the comic said that was too twisted even for his work.
  • El Goonish Shive: Grace Scuridae, named after her "grandpa's" dead daughter, who was also one of her gene donors.
  • Anders Loves Maria: Anders' daughter is named after her mother, who died in childbirth.
  • In Drowtales, Sil'lice named her twins Kau and Shala after her son Kau'shala, who died in the Nidraa'chal War.
  • In Endstone, Colindra was named for her grandmother.
  • A Whole Episode Flashback in Gunnerkrigg Court reveals that Antimony was named after her great-grandmother, who died when Surma's mother was a child since that's how the fire elemental lineage works.
  • When Zoë from Venus Envy came out as transgender and wanted to transition, her parents went through several names. They ended up going with Zoë, her maternal grandmother's name. It's never outright said that she's deceased, but it's implied.
  • When Izzy ends up having twins in Part 2 of Ennui GO!, she choses to name her daughter after her late mother Morrigan. This is a weird case where it isn't being done out of love (at least not directly), but rather she's trying to spite the abusive old hag and prove that she'll be a better mother. It's also heavily implied that the baby is the original Morrigan reincarnated, meaning she was named after herself.

    Web Original 
  • In Critical Role we learn in a oneshot special, Dalen's Closet, that Percy and Vex had a daughter during the year between the end of the campaign and the oneshot, who they named Vesper Elaina, after Percy's eldest sister and Vex's mother respectively. Both characters died prior to the campaign beginning.
  • The Editing Room did a brutal parody of the Pearl Harbor example above. After the attack, Ben Affleck and Josh Hartnett go to fight in the Pacific Theater, Kate Beckinsale cheerfully reminding them that she's pregnant, so it would be really helpful if only one of them survived. After much fighting Josh is killed by a Japanese soldier. Ben returns home, is reunited with Kate, and vows that they will name their child after the man that they have to thank for their being together... the Japanese soldier that shot Josh.
  • Pirates SMP: While Scott's Kangacrew usually follows Alphabetical Theme Naming, the sole exception for this is Jojoroo Jr., who was named after the original Jojoroo who drowned after getting stuck under the Town Center docks.
  • In Skyblock, but Every 30 Seconds a Random Item Spawns, after Milo the fish dies, Wilbur names his second fish "New Milo".
  • WitchCraft SMP: Played for Drama. Prismarina is named after her older sister of the same name, who died before she was born. She's explicitly intended to be a Replacement Goldfish in the eyes of their parents.

    Western Animation 
  • Archer: Subverted. The episode that shows how Woodhouse came to be the Archer's butler has him running a seedy bar in Tangiers after drifting around the world in grief over Reggie, his commanding officer in the British Air Force during WW1, who he was very close to. It's this bar that VERY pregnant secret agent Mallory Archer stumbles into proclaiming that people are trying to kill her and her water just broke. She gives birth to her son Sterling there on the bar, and after she names him after a silver rattle that someone had traded for his bar tab, Woodhouse asks if she would give him the middle name "Reggie". Mallory laughs and says no because the name is "too gay". Instead, she makes his middle name Mallory after herself.
  • In the Ben 10: Omniverse episode "Rook Tales", we learn that Ben's paternal great-great-grandfather's name was also "Ben", implying that he may have been named after him.
  • Done subtly and retroactively in Bojack Horseman. Bojack shares a very similar name to his mother's brother, Crackerjack, who was introduced in season 4 but died in World War Two long before the events of the show.
  • Futurama:
    • "The Luck of the Fryrish" provides the first really big Tear Jerker of the series. Fry learns that, while he was a Human Popsicle, his brother Yancy, who had always stolen everything from him, had not only stolen his lucky seven-leaf clover, but his identity. Going under the name "Philip J. Fry", he used the luck provided by the clover to accomplish many great things, including Fry's childhood dream of being the first human to land on Mars, before being buried with it under a huge memorial statue. Enraged, Fry intends to rob his brother's grave to get his clover back... only when he removes the moss covering up the second half of the epitaph, he learns that the Philip J. Fry in the statue isn't Yancy at all. He's Yancy's son. After Fry's disappearance, Yancy underwent a Heel Realization and came to deeply regret how badly he had mistreated him over the years. He didn't steal the clover for selfish reasons, he did it to have as a Tragic Keepsake. When his son was born, he named him after Fry and passed the clover down to him to honor his brother's memory. Fry then decides not to rob his nephew's grave, feeling that the clover had gone to someone deserving after all.
  • The title character of Hey Arnold! was named after his maternal grandfather, who is implied to be deceased based on the context. (Presumably the same is true of Arnold's cousin Arnie, who seems to be on his mother's side.)
  • Horseland: At the end of the "Mosey" episode, Teeny gives birth to a baby piglet whom Sara becomes attached to and names him after her late cat, Little Mosey.
  • In The Legend of Korra, the sequel series to Avatar: The Last Airbender, the show's main couple, Aang and Katara, are revealed to have had three children, two of which were named after people they knew and cared about: Kya (Katara's mother) and Bumi (Aang's friend).
    • Their third child, Tenzin, is a meta example: both he and Aang's Parental Substitute, Gyatso, are both named after the 14th Dalai Lama. It's unknown if there's an in-universe connection between those names, though.
    • The character Mako isn't named after someone who died in-universe. He's named after Mako, the original voice actor for Iroh in the previous series, who died during the airing of the second season.
    • General Iroh, Zuko's grandson, is named after Zuko's uncle Iroh.
  • The Magic School Bus uses this for a Bait-and-Switch in The Magic School Bus in the Haunted House. Throughout the episode, the kids suspect that the ghost of Professor Cornelia C. Contralto is haunting the Sound Museum, which was once her house. Eventually, they discover an old woman playing an Ominous Pipe Organ, and she introduces herself as Professor Cornelia C. Contralto... but then she adds "...the Second!" and reveals that she's the original Professor Contralto's great-granddaughter. Her great-grandmother's ghost answers the phone call in the final And Knowing Is Half the Battle segment, though.
  • South Park spoofs this while at the same time providing a possible explanation for one of the show's most famous running gags. In one episode, Kenny's mother announces she is pregnant, which causes Kenny to become extremely worried that he is being replaced. By the end of the episode, Kenny has died (as usual) and his mom delivers a son who looks exactly like him (face-concealing orange parka and all). In honor of their departed son, they name the baby Kenny. At which point Kenny's dad remarks that "this is like the fiftieth time this has happened." To which his wife replies, "Fifty-second." And if you're wondering how come baby Kenny is an eight-year-old Kenny again? Don't worry, there was another episode that explained THAT too.
  • A combination of this, We Named the Monkey "Jack", and Running Gag occurs in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2003) cartoon, where the turtles name every friendly Ceratopsid they meet in the Cretaceous Period after Zog, their fallen Triceraton ally.
  • The Simpsons:
    • The family cat is named "Snowball II" after a similar cat who died after being hit by a car. One episode was actually about Snowball II dying as a result of her being hit by another car, and being replaced by Snowballs III and IV, who both died as well (the former drowned, while the latter fell out of a window). The episode ends with Lisa coming upon a black cat that looked exactly like Snowball II and names it Snowball V, but then changes her mind and decides to call the cat Snowball II "to save money on a new dish." Principal Skinner witnesses the whole thing and comments that that's cheating, but after Lisa retorts, "I guess you're right, Principal Tamzarian" he quickly gives in.
    • Another episode has this as a twist. We're introduced to a mechanic named Junior who’s been working with the Simpsons on their car. The twist is that his full name is Frank Grimes Jr., named after the memorable one-shot character from "Homer's Enemy" who went mad and killed himself due to Homer's own stupidity, and Jr. wants revenge for his father’s untimely death.
  • Downplayed with the titular protagonist of Steven Universe. He gets his middle name, Quartz, from his mother, Rose Quartz, who gave up her physical form in order for Steven to be born.
  • In The Wild Thornberrys, when Donnie is offically adopted, his middle name is Michael after his late biological father.
  • Discussed, assumed, and actually subverted in Young Justice (2010), where Martian Manhunter suggests the last name "Kent" for Superboy's civilian identity. Miss Martian believes it to be in remembrance of the late Kent Nelson, who the Team met in a previous episode (with Superboy lampshading that taking "Nelson" as a last name would make more sense), though in truth Manhunter suggested because Superman's civilian identity is Clark Kent, which Superboy doesn't learn until the season finale.


 
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Atreus of Sparta

After having scattered the ashes of his late wife, Kratos shares with their son Atreus the story of the Spartan Kratos named him after.

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