13 Celebrated Juniors
By Linda Rosenkrantz
Nothing can bring a father and son closer together than sharing their name. And as it happens, an inordinate number of male superstars have been juniors (or IIIs or IVs—even Vs)—whether because the name was something to live up to or an incentive to distinguish themselves as individuals. In anticipation of Father’s Day we look at 13 stars who share their parent’s name, and the various ways these pairings have played out.
As the oldest of the four Baldwin brothers, Alexander Rae Baldwin III,was the logical inheritor of his dad’s name. Father A. Baldwin Jr was a high school history teacher and Mayflower descendant. Alec’s only son Rafael is obviously not carrying on the family tradition.
Clinton Eastwood Jr, is the son of a same-named steelworker, but macho Clint never used the Junior part of his name professionally. As with many if not most modern fathers, the Jr. stops here.
Robert John Downey, Jr is one of three Robert Jr superstars. There’s also Robert Anthony De Niro and (Charles) Robert Redford Jr.
Beau Bridges
Beau Bridges was born Lloyd Vernet Bridges III, at a time when his father was a major TV star. His parents nicknamed him Beau after the character of Ashley Wilkes’ son in Gone With the Wind. (Interestingly, Vice-President Biden’s late son Beau was born Joseph Ribinette Biden III.) Beau has become a popular name on its own: it now ranks at Number 2013, and has been used for their sons by such celebs as Art Garfunkel and Jamie–Lynn Sigler.
William Bradley Pitt is not technically a Junior, because he has a different middle name than dad William Alvin Pitt, and he opted to use that middle name nickname to avoid confusion. Can you imagine if the middles were reversed and Brad had become known as Alvin Pitt?
Cuba shares his unusual name with his father, a Motown R & B singer, but he named his own two sons Spencer and Mason. Cuba is a place name that has never caught on, but with the changed political situation, that could change too.
Busta Rhymes
Rapper/actor/producer Busta Rhymes was born with the much more conventional name of Trevor George Smith, Jr. His only nod to family tradition was to give his three sons names starting with T—T’Zian, T’Khi and Trillian. Another rapper who was once a Junior (named for his stepfather) is Snoop Dog, aka Cordozar Calvin Boradus, Jr; three of his kids have names starting with the Cor syllable. And there’s more—50 Cent’s birth certificate reads Curtis James Jackson III, Common was Lonnie Rashid Lynn Jr, Coolio, Artis Leon Ivey Jr, to name a few.
Will Smith was born not William but Willard Carroll Smith, Jr. His first son, following tradition, is WCS III, but is known by the traditional nickname for a third, Trey.
Ramon Estevez
Actor Ramon Estevez, the less well known brother of Charlie Sheen and Emilio Estevez, is kind of a sideways Junior, as his father dropped his birth name of Ramón Antonio Gerardo Estévez when he became actor Martin Sheen. Charlie is the only one of his four kids to use his dad’s stage surname.
Did you ever wonder where Usher got his unusual name? Well, Usher Raymond IV came by it legitimately, inheriting it from dad, Usher Raymond III. The singer did pass it on to his son, Usher Raymond V, known to all as “Cinco.”
The son of a New Orleans lawyer, judge, and onetime DA, the singer was christened Joseph Harry Fowler Connick, Jr. He followed a common Junior practice by using his middle name.
Going all the way to #V in his family, the Twilight’s Jasper Hale portrayer was christened Monroe Jackson Rathbone V to a family with distinguished ancestors, including Civil War general Stonewall Jackson. And staying true to his family custom, he named his son Monroe Jackson Rathbone VI (brother to new baby sister Presley Bowie).
Will.i.am
William James Adams Jr had fun with his inherited name (from a father he never met), being one of the first celebs to play with punctuation.
And here’s a list of some of the many more distinguished Jrs plus:
Martin Luther King, Jr (actually born Michael King, Jr—his father changed both their names to honor theologian Martin Luther)
Muhammad Ali (Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr.)
Miles Davis (Miles Dewey Davis III)
Mickey Rooney (Joseph Yule Jr—though he named his own son Mickey Rooney Jr)
Hank Williams Jr (Randall Hank Williams )—and father of Hank III
Tom Cruise (Thomas Cruise Mapother IV)
Mickey Rourke (Philip Andre Rourke Jr.)
Chris Rock (Christopher Julius Rock III)
Freddie James Prinz, Jr (though his comedian father was born Frederick Karl Pruetzel)
Cal Ripken Jr (Calvin Edwin Ripken Jr)
Ken Griffey Jr (George Kenneth Griffey Jr—with a son called Trey)