Date: Wed, 1 Mar 1995 15:44:40 -0500
From: "Jerry (NMN) Miller" miller[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]NEWTON.FRANKLINCOLL.EDU
Subject: Re: "little" and "jr"
Right, most of the cases of John II I am familiar with involve something other
than a father-son situation. In many cases, I think, it involves an uncle-
nephew situation, where the uncle names the son after his brother. I know of a
couple of cases like that in auto racing (which I cover as a journalist fairly
often). I think there have been some instances also where, if the son's name
is not an exact replication of the father's name, he may be called John II
instead of Jr.
One of the weirdest is the case of the racing Vukoviches. The father was Bill
(at least to racing fans and the press); his son raced as Billy Jr. (although,
I seem to remember, their given names were not exactly the same), and then the
grandson became known as Billy Vukovich III. Then there is the current driver,
Jacques Villeneuve, whose father, Gilles Villeneuve, was a famous driver (who
died racing), and whose uncle, Jacques Villeneuve, was a slightly less famous
one (who didn't die racing...yet) and still races occasionally. Yet both are
simply known as Jacques Villeneuve--no II or anything else!
jmiller
franklin college (ind.)