If John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy were alive and, in 2003, adopted a Black child and changed his name to ‘John Kennedy,’ would he then be ‘John Kennedy the Third’? Or No since the kid is not biologically theirs?

  • DebatableRaccoon@lemmy.ca
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    3
    ·
    13 hours ago

    At the time of naming, Senior is usually still alive and the same is often true for the grandchild. While it is indeed true that distinguishing between two people is useful after death, I’d say it’s more happy accident than not since people tend to not think that far into the future. Not saying it doesn’t happen at all, only that it wouldn’t be the primary reasoning behind the convention.