Article in Discover magazine

[Richard Jensen]

Robin Leech wrote:

> The Yewessians handle the homonyms in two ways that I
> have observed (but there may be more):
> 1.  Tom Jones I; Tom Jones II, Tom Jones III; etc., and
> 2.  Tom Jones Sr; Tom Jones Jr.
>
> I have often wondered in the Sr/Jr situation if a man who is
> Presently Tom Jones Jr becomes Tom Jones Sr when his
> father dies,

This was common practice, historically.  In genealogy, it is not uncommon to
find someone referred to as Tom Jones Jr., as long as his father was alive; on
his father's death, he became Tom Jones Sr. and his son Tom moved up the ladder
accordingly.  It seems as if, in the last century or so, at least in the U.S,
this practiced has disappeared..

As for the use of a single name, I like the sound of uninomial, as it seems more
consistent with the terms binomial, trinomial, polynominal as they are now used,
but apparently monomial has historical precedent on its side.

Dick J.
--
Richard J. Jensen              | tel: 574-284-4674
Department of Biology      | fax: 574-284-4716
Saint Mary's College         | e-mail: rjensen at saintmarys.edu
Notre Dame, IN 46556    | http://www.saintmarys.edu/~rjensen