Frankly, it depends on his name. :D Also how much he wanted to do it.
I met a kid named
Henry Rudolph IV. I woulda carried that on in a second.
I also knew a
Frederick Joseph V who said he was so determined to carry it on he would adopt a boy if he didn't have one and name him
VI. I think I would have been okay with that too.
A lot of times these traditions frustrate me, though, because I think it's often originally a result of neither of the parents caring very much about names. Like once I asked this kid
Max if he had a kid what would he would name it.
He paused and said "max jr." If
Max Jr thinks it's a neat tradition, or is as apathetic as his dad, you get a
Max III, and then the pressure's on to name everyone else
Max. Imagine being a VII. Could you NOT name a son after you? Idk if I could.
My dad's father, and both of his brothers, all had sons they named after themselves.
Joseph Conrad Jr,
Rudolph (U?) Jr,
Arthur Philip Jr. I don't know what this was, exactly. They are all dead. I think
Rudy had a
Rudy III and I'm not sure about
Arthur. I don't know if all of the brothers expected their sons to be like them... hm. I know that they had superbly rough relations though. Not so much my dad and his, but the other two definitely. The III's and IV's and V's I've known I don't think had rough relations? I dunno. It's interesting.
My history professor thinks it's a really interesting phenomenon. Is it because
America is such a young country and it is trying to compensate by imitating aristocracy? he hypothesized. Or maybe it is an attempt to imitate aristocracy where there's not an official aristocracy in
America? Although there
is a
de facto aristocracy in
America... mainly it is mainly the members of this class that adhere to this practice?
I dunno. It depends a lot. If I married a
Simon Francis Benedict I would be like "um. I have a proposition."