I am a “Jr”, too and do not mind that I was named after my dad. I just wish he had a less unusual first name. I have a very common last name, but with the first name added, I can only find about 12 people with this name when I do an internet search.
When my wife & I were first introduced, her comment was “I hope you have enough sense to let that name die with you!”
So far, we’ve not named any of our 4 kids “III”.
;-)
Well, I am just thankful that my mother resisted my father’s request that I be named after him. It saved me the legal expense of giving myself my own distinct name when I came of legal age to do so.
I suspect that Jr.s go through life always cognizant of their relationship to daddy. And sometimes this can be a bad, bad thing (not withstanding credit problems with two having the same name—never mind the “Jr.” part, stores have a way of leaving that off). I have particular reference to a young baseball player I saw playing for a minor league team back in the 1970s. His name was Micky Mantle Jr. (yep, that Micky Mantle who bestowed his famous name on his progeny).
Of course, he was a failure (those genes only come across each other once in a while). But hey, he was Micky Mantle Jr. and great things were expected!! Well, they may have been expected but the kid could not deliver...naturally.
I think naming someone Jr. is a terrible idea and in line with male pompousness. Have you ever seen a woman with the identical name of her mother? I doubt it. Women have better sense than to do things like that.