This month we celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr. who earned the “Junior” of his name because he shared his name with his father. It is traditional when a father uses his own name for his son to follow that name with “Junior,” and the father adopts the name “Senior” after his name. In some cases, families do this generationally, creating names that end in III or IV and beyond. Naturally, this could cause problems with calling fathers and sons by the same name, so children often get nicknames to compensate.

Junior Rivera Madrigal said that he earned his name because it was the same as his father. When people hear it, they often say “This is not a common name” or “That is the name of the youngest in the family.” Rivera, however, is not the youngest in his family and he has a half-brother who shares his name. He also has a sister – Cecilia Romero Rivera – who graduated in 2018, and three younger siblings who attend Sheldon Academy of Innovative Learning.

While Junior is an unusual first name, Rivera said that he wouldn’t want to change it. “I would change my middle name because I don’t like it,” he said. His middle name is Rafael.

Rivera enjoys playing soccer and plans to go into the military after he graduates from Armijo.