From: G6JPG@255soft.uk
On Sat, 15 Aug 2020 at 15:32:15, Ian Goddard
wrote:
>On 15/08/2020 11:15, Athel Cornish-Bowden wrote:
>> in Britain suffixes like Jr. are far less common than in the USA
>
>It depends where you're looking. I've come across them, especially in
>manorial records. What's not necessarily clear is whether you're
>looking at a parental relationship, a wider family relationship such as
>cousins, two people of more remote, if any, kinship who just happen to
>have the same name or, in really pathological situations, siblings. I
>started off assuming the first but now I'm more wary.
Yes, I've occasionally found it, but often in contexts where, as you
say, it's just that two people in the area have the same name (though of
course that often _is_ father and son); also, it's rarely clear whether
the person adding the suffix is even a member of the family, or just
someone adding it - possibly using it as the Latin comparative ("[the]
older" or "[the] younger") only.
Though less common than it once was, I get the impression that the USA
custom _is_ normally family-applied - even to the extent that the son is
sometimes referred to (and addressed) as Junior rather than his actual
name. (Seems to be only sons - I've not come across it for daughters,
though I daresay it occurs.) I've not encountered it, except in families
with US connections, in Britain - though I guess it probably does occur.
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/<1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf
... unlike other legal systems the common law is permissive. We can do what we
like, unless it is specifically prohibited by law. We are not as rule-bound
and codified as other legal systems. - Helena Kennedy QC (Radio Times 14-20
July 2012).
--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)
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