question....if your name includes Jr. after it..do you Have to use it legally?
the reason I ask....21 years ago I did something I would never recommend to anyone.. I named my son after his father and put the Jr. on the end of his name. Well, after 5 girls, the son was a big deal to him, so I indulged him with his mini-me.
All these years later, besides the pain of hearing...big D, or little D, senior or junior? dad or son? I now find out that my son NEVER uses Jr. in anything he has done. It's not on his driver's license, not on his checks, bank account, credit card, mail, on the income taxes he filed, and now, not on his resume. He never signs anything with the "jr" at all.
I told him that Jr is part of his legal name since it is on his birth certificate, but he tells me that since the social security numbers are different, that is what seperates them.
When his new driver's license came, it had the wrong eye color and height on it. Yup, his father's eye color and height. Son says, doesn't matter since it goes by birthday and SS number.
Is he legally obligated to use the "Jr"? Will this come back to bite him later? or is it no big deal?
Please...never give your child the same name as any relative...it's a pain!
2004 Prowler 270FQS "MY PRECIOUS"
1998 Dodge Ram 1500 SLT quad 5.9L V8 360 tow package "Happiness is but a state of mind. Any time you want, you can cross the state line." We LOVE the RED WINGS! Go Wings! Our 2004 Prowler photos
"Technically" or "Legally", speaking.... Yes, he is supposed to use the "Jr" on all "Legal" documents, including driver's license, health records, tax forms, ..... etc...
Yes, I know that in the real world, many folks don't use "JR" or "III",.. or whatever other designator that is on their birth certificate... but they are supposed to by law..
In my own case,... I rarely use "Jr" on anything "Un-official"... like signing personal checks or entry forms, drawing tickets.. etc....
but on legal things like medical records, drivers license, insurance forms, Social Security checks and VA pension checks ..... My full legal name must be used .. complete with "JR" on the end.
I was given the same name as my father, which should make me a "Junior" .. and my birth certificate shows "Jr" on it..
But a few years ago I got interested in Genealogy and researched my family history..
To my surprise, I found out that every other generation back to the early 1800s was named after the son's grandfather.. and I broke that sequence..
I was named for my father... but my father was named for his grandfather and his grandfather was named for his grandfather... and so on and on and on.....
So I guess, technically speaking, I should have been named John Todd Harrelson VI in stead of "Jr"
Before my mother died, I teased her and said that maybe I should use both "JR' and "VI" when signing my checks.. she just gave me one of "Those" looks that only a mother can give...
Genealogy is full of surprises and lots of fun..
John
John Harrelson
Carson City, Nevada
fulltime since 1977
93 Ford 350 4wd Diesel
95 Prowler 30.5 ft 5th wheel w/slide
TWO CENTS WORTH
The story goes that a man died and was approached by the Devil who told him that he could buy his soul back for a dollar. The man searched his pockets and could only come up with 98 cent. While begging the Devil to forget the two cent he was short, an Angel happened by and hearing the Devil laughing, asked the man, "Would you mind if I put in my two cents ?" The Devil got so mad that he exploded in a puff of smoke and the man's soul was saved. The moral: Sometimes putting in your two cents worth makes a difference.
JOHN "the cook" 1997
I'm a Jr. and sometimes things do get mixed up. I applied for a loan back in the 80's and my fathers credit history popped up with mine. No explanation as to why and yes there were issues that had to be resolved before the bank would move forward.
He can change it to whatever he wants so no he doesn't have to use it. Many people don't use their middle initial or some do sometimes and some do not.
yankeeblue wrote: ... he tells me that since the social security numbers are different, that is what seperates them.
...
My youngest son's name (Jonathan) is similar to mine (John), and what happened was his name and SSN ended up on my credit reports. So, there can be confusion.
I am the middle of 3 generations of the first name Robert in the same town. All our middle names are different, but that doesn't deter the post office (small town) from sending my mail to my son's address. Almost anything else we have found does run by SSN so there has never been any major mixup issue regarding credit, taxes, etc.
my husband has his fathers first name but a different middle name. it is quite confusing to banks (we had to change from using the same bank when the bank kept depositing my dh's checks into the in-laws account)
even the credit reporting co's can't keep them straight - even thought they of course have different ss #'s. It was really a mess when we lived in the same city!
he gets called jr by some people to irritate him, but he is truly not a jr.
Fun discussion. Like the OP, in my enthusiasm of new fatherhood I named my oldest after myself. It has been "Big Chuck" and "Little Chuck" for 42 years although Jr. is four inches taller and 50 lbs more than the sire. He has taken phone calls from my customers since he installed his own phone, had to put up with all the "I know your Dad!" comments. Now that I have retired, I get the "Is Chuck ....... your son?" inquires. Everything goes full circle it seems and the whole thing has been fun in this smaller city where names still mean something.
I'll have to ask him if he uses the Jr. in his name--I know that I use "Sr." even if it isn't a legal name. Fact is, my license plate on the car is "Chuck Sr"! There have been a few misunderstandings and confusion over the years but, truth is, I'm glad my son is carrying my name forward. He's a good man.
My name has a a "Jr" because as I got older and my father's full name and mine were exactly alike, I added the "Jr" for a signature to separate us. It was not on my birth certificate but added when I became of legal age. It was also put on my SS card for the same reason. NOW any legal doc I sign has the "Jr" even though my father passed away over 25 years ago. It is NOW part of my legal name even though not my birth name.
Frank
When his new driver's license came, it had the wrong eye color and height on it. Yup, his father's eye color and height.
Yikes! Go right away and make sure Dad and Son do not share the same driver's license number! There is absolutely no reason for their info to be mixed together, unless the files got matched by mistake. Say the state computer system is down and the operator keys in the info, then later when the system comes back up, an incorrect match could be made, if it isn't rejected by an alert human. I agree with you 1000% about the names, by the way. I have seen some awful messes created because one or the other was irresponsible, or just from bad luck. Once, I had a customer with a peculiar moniker followed by "V" because he was the fifth in a long line of whatever the name was. He was so proud of that name, but no way would my computer take the input. It considered "V" to be his last name.
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