Posthumous birth
A posthumous birth is the birth of a child after the death of a biological parent.[1] A person born in these circumstances is called a posthumous child or a posthumously born person. Most instances of posthumous birth involve the birth of a child after the death of its father, but the term is also applied to infants delivered after the death of the mother, usually by caesarean section.[2]
Legal implications
Posthumous birth has special implications in law, potentially affecting the child's citizenship and legal rights, inheritance, and order of succession. Legal systems generally include special provisions regarding inheritance by posthumous children and the legal status of such children. For example, Massachusetts law states that a posthumous child is treated as having been living at the death of the parent,[3] meaning that the child receives the same share of the parent's estate as if the child had been born before the parent's death. Another emerging legal issue in the United States is the control of genetic material after the death of the donor.[4] United States law holds that posthumous children of U.S. citizens who are born outside the United States have the same rights to citizenship that they would have had if the deceased U.S. citizen parent had been alive at the time of their birth.[5] In the field of assisted reproduction, snowflake children, i.e. those "adopted" as frozen embryos by people unrelated to them, can result in the birth of a child after the death of one or both of their genetic parents.
In monarchies
A posthumous birth has special significance in the case of hereditary monarchies following primogeniture. In this system, a monarch's own child precedes that monarch's sibling in the order of succession. In cases where the widow of a childless king is pregnant at the time of his death, the next-in-line is not permitted to assume the throne, but must yield place to the unborn child, or ascends and reigns until the child is born. In monarchies that follow male-preference cognatic primogeniture, the situation is similar where the dead monarch was not childless but left a daughter as the next-in-line, as well as a pregnant widow. A posthumous brother would supplant that daughter in the succession, whereas a posthumous sister, being younger, would not. Similarly, in monarchies that follow agnatic primogeniture, the sex of the unborn child determines the succession; a posthumous male child would himself succeed, whereas the next-in-line would succeed upon the birth of a posthumous female child.
Modern complications
Posthumous conception by artificial insemination or in vitro fertilization, whether done using sperm or ova stored before a parent's death or sperm retrieved from a man's corpse, has created new legal issues.[3] When a woman is inseminated with her deceased husband's sperm, laws that establish that a sperm donor is not the legal father of the child born as a result of artificial insemination have had the effect of excluding the deceased husband from fatherhood and making the child legally fatherless.[6] In the United Kingdom before 2000, birth records of children conceived using a dead man's sperm had to identify the infants as fatherless, but in 2000 the government announced that the law would be changed to allow the deceased father's name to be listed on the birth certificate.[7] In 1986, a New South Wales legal reform commission recommended that the law should recognize the deceased husband as the father of a child born from post-mortem artificial insemination, provided that the woman is his widow and unmarried at the time of birth, but the child should have inheritance rights to the father's estate only if the father left a will that included specific provisions for the child.[7] In 2001, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court was asked to consider whether the father's name should appear on the birth record for a child conceived through artificial insemination after her father's death, as well as whether that child was eligible for U.S. Social Security benefits. The court ruled in January 2002 that a child could be the legal heir of a dead parent if there was a genetic relationship and the deceased parent had both agreed to the posthumous conception and committed to support the child.[3] Different U.S. state courts and federal appellate courts have ruled differently in similar cases. In 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Astrue v. Capato that twins born 18 months after their father's death using the father's frozen sperm were not eligible for Social Security benefits, which set a new precedent.
Naming
In the Middle Ages, it was traditional for posthumous children born in England to be given a matronymic surname instead of a patronymic one. This may in part explain why matronyms are more common in England than in other parts of Europe.[8]
In Ancient Rome, posthumous children of noble birth were often given the cognomen (or third name) 'Postumus.' One example is Agrippa Postumus. However, it is likely that the term simply meant "the last child" or youngest born, and did not always indicate posthumous birth.
In Yoruba culture, posthumous children are given names that referred to the circumstances concerning the birth. Examples of this include Bàbárímisá, meaning that the Father saw (the child) and ran, Yeyérínsá, meaning that the Mother saw (the child) and ran, Ikúdáyísí (or any name with the root dáyísí, which means that death spared the child, and Ẹnúyàmí, meaning that "I was surprised," referring to the fact that the tragic death of the father, mother, or both was sudden and surprising for the family.
Notable people born posthumously
This list also includes people who were posthumous children of notables but did not become notable themselves.
Antiquity
Name | Born | Late parent | Parent died | Gap | Comments |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Alexander IV King of Macedon | August 323 BCE | Alexander the Great | 11 June 323 BCE | 2 months | |
Bindusara Mauryan Emperor | 320 BCE | His mother | 320 BCE | Delivered through caesarean section after his mother was poisoned.[9] | |
Agrippa Postumus Grandson of Augustus Caesar | 12 BCE | Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa | 12 BCE | A few weeks | |
Shapur II Sassanid Emperor | 309 AD | Hormizd II | 309 AD | Forty days | Shapur is believed to be the only monarch in history who was crowned in utero |
Flavia Maxima Constantia Wife of Gratian | 361–362 AD | Constantius II | 3 November 361 | Father died of fever. |
Middle Ages
Name | Born | Late parent | Parent died | Gap | Comments |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Muhammad Prophet of Islam | c. 570 | Abdullah ibn Abdul-Muttalib | c. 569 | <6 months | Father died of illness while returning from a foreign trade mission. |
Robert I King of France | 15 August 866 | Robert the Strong | 2 July 866 | 6 weeks | Robert the Strong died at the Battle of Brissarthe |
Charles III "The Simple" King of France | 17 September 879 | Louis the Stammerer | 10 April 879 | 5 months | |
Lothair III Holy Roman Emperor | 1075 | Gebhard of Supplinburg | 9 June 1075 | ? | |
Valdemar I the Great King of Denmark | 14 January 1131 | Canute Lavard | 7 January 1131 | 7 days | |
Constance I Queen of Sicily | 2 November 1154 | Roger II of Sicily | 26 February 1154 | 8 months | |
Baldwin V King of Jerusalem | August 1177 | William of Montferrat, Count of Jaffa and Ascalon | June 1177 | 2 months | |
Arthur I Duke of Brittany | 29 March 1187 | Geoffrey II, Duke of Brittany | 19 August 1186 | 7 months | |
Maria of Montferrat Queen of Jerusalem | Summer 1192 | Conrad of Montferrat | 28 April 1192 | A few months | Father assassinated. |
Theobald I King of Navarre | 30 May 1201 | Theobald III, Count of Champagne | 24 May 1201 | 6 days | |
Raymond Nonnatus Catholic saint | 1204 | His mother | 1204 | – | Retrieved through caesarean section after his mother died in childbirth.[2] |
Przemysł II King of Poland | 14 October 1257 | Przemysł I of Greater Poland | 4 June 1257 | 4 months | |
John I King of France | 15 November 1316 | Louis X of France | 5 June 1316 | 5 months | He lived for only six days, but was a king for his entire short life. |
Isabel de Verdun, Baroness Ferrers of Groby English aristocrat | 21 March 1317 | Theobald de Verdun, 2nd Lord Verdun, Justiciar of Ireland | 27 July 1316 | 8 months | Theobald died of typhoid |
John, 3rd Earl of Kent | 7 April 1330 | Edmund of Woodstock, 1st Earl of Kent | 19 March 1330 | 19 days | Edmund was executed |
William of Bavaria-Munich | 1435 | William III, Duke of Bavaria | 12 September 1435 | up to 3 months | He also died in 1435 |
Ladislaus the Posthumous King of Bohemia, Hungary, and Croatia, Duke of Austria | 22 February 1440 | King Albert II of Germany | 27 October 1439 | 4 months | |
Henry VII King of England | 28 January 1457 | Edmund Tudor, 1st Earl of Richmond | 1 or 3 November 1456 | 3 months | |
John Louis Count of Nassau-Saarbrücken | 19 October 1472 | Johann II of Nassau-Saarbrücken | 15 July 1472 | 3 months | |
Mencía Pacheco[10] Castilian noblewoman | 1474–1475 | Juan Pacheco | 1 October 1474 | Father died of a throat ailment. | |
Pope Clement VII | 26 May 1478 | Giuliano de' Medici | 26 April 1478 | 1 month | Giuliano was assassinated in the Pazzi Conspiracy |
Modern Age
Name | Born | Late parent | Parent died | Gap | Comments |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Catherine of Austria Queen of Portugal | 14 January 1507 | Philip I of Castile | 25 September 1506 | 3 months | Father died of typhoid or was poisoned. |
Alexander Stewart Duke of Ross | 30 April 1514 | James IV of Scotland | 9 September 1513 | 7 months | James IV died at the Battle of Flodden; Alexander died at the age of only 20 months, but during his short life he was heir presumptive to the throne of the Kingdom of Scotland |
Françoise d'Orléans-Longueville Wife of Louis I of Bourbon | 5 April 1549 | François d'Orléans, Marquis of Rothelin, Prince of Chalet-Aillon, Viscount of Melun | 25 October 1548 | 5 months | |
Sebastian King of Portugal | 20 January 1554 | João Manuel, Prince of Portugal | 2 January 1554 | 18 days | Upon his birth, Sebastian immediately became Crown Prince |
Ben Jonson Elizabethan playwright | c. 11 June 1572 | His father | April 1572 | 2 months | |
Henri II de Bourbon, Prince of Condé French aristocrat | 1 September 1588 | Henri, Prince of Condé | 5 Mar 1588 | 6 months | |
Sveinn "Skotti" Björnsson Icelandic criminal | 1596–1597 | Björn Pétursson | 1596 | ? | His father was the only serial killer in the history of Iceland and was executed before his birth. |
Thomas Herbert Welsh Royal Navy officer and writer | 15 May 1597 | Richard Herbert | 15 October 1596 (buried) | 7 months | |
Friedrich Wilhelm II Duke of Saxe-Altenburg | 12 February 1603 | Friedrich Wilhelm I, Duke of Saxe-Weimar | 7 July 1602 | 7 months | |
Joseph of Cupertino Catholic saint | 17 June 1603 | Felice Desa | ? | ? | |
Elizabeth Gyllenhielm Swedish noble | 1622 | Charles Philip, Duke of Södermanland | 25 January 1622 | Charles died in battle at Narva | |
François-Henri de Montmorency Duke of Luxembourg | 8 January 1628 | François de Montmorency-Bouteville | 22 June 1627 | 6 months | His father was executed for dueling |
Isaac Newton English scientist | 4 January 1643 | Isaac Newton, Sr. | September–October 1642 | 3 months | |
William III King of England and Scotland | 14 November 1650 | William II, Prince of Orange | 6 November 1650 | 8 days | Father died of smallpox. He was born Prince of Orange. |
Adolphus Frederick II Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz | 19 October 1658 | Adolf Frederick I, Duke of Mecklenburg | 27 February 1658 | 7 months | |
Jonathan Swift Irish writer (Gulliver's Travels) | 30 November 1667 | Jonathan Swift, Sr. | c. April 1667 | 7 months | |
William August Duke of Saxe-Eisenach | 30 November 1668 | Adolf William, Duke of Saxe-Eisenach | 21 November 1668 | 9 days | |
Godscall Paleologue | 12 January 1694 | Theodorious Paleologus | post-1 August 1693 (date will made) | Up to 5 months | Last recorded living member of the Paleologus dynasty |
Edward Ward, 9th Baron Dudley | 16 June 1704 | Edward Ward, 8th Baron Dudley | 28 March 1704[11] | 10 weeks | |
Georg Wilhelm Richmann Livonian physicist | 22 July 1711 | His father | His father died of plague. | ||
William IV Prince of Orange | 1 September 1711 | John William Friso, Prince of Orange | 14 July 1711 | 6 weeks | His father drowned in ferryboat sinking. |
Robert Petre, 8th Baron Petre British peer and horticulturist | 3 June 1713 | Robert Petre, 7th Baron Petre | 22 March 1713 | 10 weeks | His father died of smallpox. |
John Morton American politician | 1725 | John Morton, Sr. | 1725 | ||
Sir Brook Bridges, 3rd Baronet British politician | 17 September 1733 | Sir Brook Bridges, 2nd Bt | 23 May 1733[12] | 4 months | |
Barbara Herbert, Countess of Powis British aristocrat | 24 June 1735 | Lord Edward Herbert | c. March 1735 | 3 months | |
Caroline Matilda Queen of Denmark | 11 July 1751 | Frederick, Prince of Wales | 20 March 1751 | 4 months | |
Thomas Chatterton English poet and forger | 20 November 1752 | Thomas Chatterton Sr. | 7 August 1752[13] | 15 weeks | |
Elizabeth Simcoe British artist in colonial Canada | 22 September 1762 | Thomas Gwillim | ? | ? | |
Benedict Joseph Flaget American bishop | 7 November 1763 | ||||
Andrew Jackson President of the United States | 15 March 1767 | Andrew Jackson, Sr. | February 1767 | 3 weeks | His father was killed in a lumber accident |
Tenskwatawa Shawnee prophet and leader | 1775 | Pukeesheno | ? | ? |
19th century
Name | Born | Late parent | Parent died | Gap | Comments |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Arthur MacArthur Sr. Governor of Wisconsin | 26 January 1815 | His father | 19 January 1815 | 7 days | Paternal grandfather of General Douglas MacArthur |
Henri, Count of Chambord Pretender to the French throne | 29 September 1820 | Charles Ferdinand, Duke of Berry | 14 February 1820 | 7 months | Father, who was assassinated, also had three posthumously born bastard children by different women. |
Rutherford B. Hayes President of the United States | 4 October 1822 | Rutherford Hayes Jr | 20 July 1822 | 10 weeks | |
Jemima Blackburn Scottish painter | 1 May 1823 | James Wedderburn | 7 November 1822 | 6 months | |
Anna Leonowens British teacher, co-subject of The King and I | 5 November 1831 | Thomas Edwards | 3 months | ||
David Hyrum Smith Leader of the RLDS Church | 7 November 1844 | Joseph Smith | 27 June 1844 | 5 months | His father was murdered. |
Princess Kazu Wife of Tokugawa Iemochi | 1 August 1846 | Emperor Ninkō | 21 February 1846 | 5 months | |
Horace Tabberer Brown British chemist | 1848 | His father | |||
Samuel Alexander British philosopher | 1859 | Samuel Alexander, Sr. | |||
Motilal Nehru Indian political activist | 6 May 1861 | Gangadhar Nehru | February 1861 | 3 months | |
Florence Maybrick US-British accused murderess | 3 September 1862 | William Chandler | ? | ? | [14] |
George Washington Carver American agricultural scientist | c. 1864 | His father | Father was murdered. | ||
Breaker Morant Australian soldier and folk hero | 9 December 1864 | Edwin Murrant | August 1864 | 4 months | |
Frank Anstey Australian politician | 18 August 1865 | Samuel Anstey | ? | 5 months | |
Rua Kenana Hepetipa Maori faith healer | 1869 | Kenana Tumoana | November 1868 | 3 months | Tumoana was killed at Makaretu while fighting for Te Kooti |
George Washington Lambert Australian artist | 13 September 1873 | George Washington Lambert | 25 July 1873 | 7 weeks | |
Carl Schuricht German conductor | 3 July 1880 | Carl Conrad Schuricht | ? | 3 weeks | His father drowned in the Baltic Sea while trying to save a friend |
Charles Edward, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha | 19 July 1884 | Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany | 28 March 1884 | 4 months | His father, a haemophiliac, died after head injury in a fall. |
Chester W. Nimitz American fleet admiral | 24 February 1885 | Chester Bernard Nimitz | 14 August 1884 | 6 months | |
Clara Sipprell Canadian photographer | 31 October 1885 | Francis Sipprell | |||
Alfonso XIII King of Spain | 17 May 1886 | King Alfonso XII | 25 November 1885 | 6 months | His father died of dysentery from tuberculosis |
Li Dazhao Co-founder of the Chinese Communist Party | 29 October 1889 | His father | A few months | ||
Thomas Iorwerth Ellis Welsh classicist | 19 December 1899 | Thomas Edward Ellis | 5 April 1899 | 8 months | |
Mabel Mercer British-American jazz singer | 3 February 1900 | Her father | ? | ? | [15] |
20th century
Name | Born | Late parent | Parent died | Gap | Comments |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Stanley Kunitz American poet | 29 July 1905 | Solomon Z. Kunitz | June 1905 | 6 weeks | Father committed suicide. |
Johan Kjær Hansen Member of the Danish Resistance | 7 April 1907 | Hans Christian Johan Andreas Hansen | 13 December 1906 | 4 months | |
Xiao Qian Chinese essayist and translator | 27 January 1910 | His father | |||
John Jacob Astor VI | 14 August 1912 | John Jacob Astor IV | 15 April 1912 | 4 months | Father drowned in the sinking of the RMS Titanic, which his mother survived |
Red Skelton American comedian | 18 July 1913 | Joseph Elmer Skelton | May 1913 | 2 months | |
Cäzilia Gabriel Hinterkaifeck victim | January 1915 | Karl Gabriel | December 1914 | 1 month | Father killed in action during World War I. |
Georg Quistgaard Member of the Danish Resistance | 19 February 1915 | Georg Brockhoff Quistgaard, Sr. | 18 December 1914 | 2 months | |
Alfred Shaughnessy English screenwriter and producer | 19 May 1916 | Alfred Shaughnessy, Sr. | 2 months | Father killed in World War I. | |
Edward Bell, Jr | October 1918 | Edward Bell (footballer) | 24 March 1918 | 6 months | Father killed in action during World War I. |
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn Russian novelist | 11 December 1918 | Isaakiy Semyonovich Solzhenitsyn | 15 June 1918 | 6 months | Father killed in a hunting accident. |
John Mitchum American actor | 6 September 1919 | James Mitchum | February 1919 | 7 months | Father killed in a railyard accident. |
Kong Decheng Duke of Yansheng | 23 February 1920 | Kong Lingyi | 8 November 1919 | 3 months | |
Alexandra of Yugoslavia Wife of Peter II of Yugoslavia | 25 March 1921 | Alexander of Greece | 25 October 1920 | 5 months | Father died from sepsis after being bitten by a captive monkey. |
Jules Olitski Ukrainian-American painter, sculptor | 27 March 1922 | His father | A few months | Father executed by the Soviet government. | |
Elisabeth of Austria Austrian aristocrat | 31 May 1922 | Charles I of Austria | 1 April 1922 | 2 months | Father died of pneumonia. |
Stephen Wurm Hungarian-Australian linguist | 19 August 1922 | Adolphe Wurm | |||
Mary Warnock English philosopher | 14 April 1924 | Archibald Wilson | 1923 | ||
Anthony Earnshaw English anarchist | 9 October 1924 | His father | |||
Felipe Rodríguez Puerto Rican singer | 8 May 1926 | His father | |||
Earl Holliman American actor | 11 September 1928 | William A. Frost | 6 months | Holliman and all his biological siblings were put up for adoption as a result of economic hardships derived from his father's death. | |
Bertram Wainer Australian doctor and activist | 30 December 1928 | His father | [16] | ||
Itamar Franco President of Brazil | 28 June 1930 | Augusto César Stiebler Franco | April 1930 | 2 months | Father died of malaria.[17] |
Thomas Sowell American economist | 30 June 1930 | His father | |||
Brian Sewell British art critic | 15 July 1931 | Peter Warlock (claimed by Sewell) | 17 December 1930 | 7 months | Warlock died of coal gas poisoning. |
Don Durant American actor | 20 November 1932 | His father | 2 months | Father killed in a truck accident. | |
Margaret O'Brien American actress | 15 January 1937 | Lawrence O'Brien | |||
Ian Brady British serial killer | 2 January 1938 | His father (according to his mother) | 3 months | Brady's father was never identified, casting doubt on his mother's claims. | |
Lee Harvey Oswald Assassin of John F. Kennedy | 18 October 1939 | Robert Edward Lee Oswald | 19 August 1939 | 2 months | Father died of a heart attack. |
Marie Heydrich | 23 July 1942 | Reinhard Heydrich | 4 June 1942 | 7 weeks | Father was assassinated. |
Edwin Wilson Australian poet | 27 October 1942 | His father | |||
Henry Cecil British racehorse trainer | 11 January 1943 | Henry Kerr Auchmuty Cecil | 30 November – 2 December 1942[18] | 6 weeks[18] or 2 weeks[19] | Father killed in action in the North African campaign of World War II.[19] |
Sylvester McCoy British actor | 20 August 1943 | Percy Kent-Smith | 18 July 1943 | 1 month | Father killed in action in World War II. |
Ranulph Fiennes British explorer and writer | 7 March 1944 | Ranulph Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes | 24 November 1943 | 3 months | Father killed in action at the Battle of Monte Cassino. |
John Pelham, 9th Earl of Chichester English nobleman | 14 April 1944 | John Pelham, 8th Earl of Chichester | 21 February 1944 | 2 months | Father killed in road accident while serving in World War II. |
Maria João Pires Portuguese-Swiss classical pianist | 23 July 1944 | João Baptista Pires | |||
Bernard Collaery Australian lawyer and politician | 12 October 1944 | Edward Collaery | 4 months | Father killed in action in World War II. | |
Frederica von Stade American opera singer | 1 June 1945 | Charles S. von Stade | 10 April 1945 | 2 months | Father killed in action in World War II. |
Bill Clinton President of the United States | 19 August 1946 | William Jefferson Blythe Jr. | 17 May 1946 | 3 months | Father died in an automobile accident. |
Peter Kocan Attempted assassin of Arthur Calwell | 4 May 1947 | His father | 3 months | Father died in an automobile accident. | |
Pedro López Colombian serial killer | 8 October 1948 | Midardo Reyes | 4 April 1948 | 7 months | Father shot when his store was attacked during La Violencia. |
Jett Williams American singer | 6 January 1953 | Hank Williams | 1 January 1953 | 5 days | Father died of drug-induced cardiac arrest. |
Wally Carr Australian boxer | 11 August 1954 | His father | 2 months | Father shot himself in the head[20] | |
Janet Lynn Skinner American singer | 5 July 1955 | Billie Haille | July 1955 | A few days | Father died of spinal meningitis. |
Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum President of the Dubai Civil Aviation Authority | 1 December 1958 | Saeed bin Maktoum bin Hasher Al Maktoum | 9 September 1958 | 3 months | His father was 80 years old at the time of his death. |
Tyrone Power Jr. American actor | 22 January 1959 | Tyrone Power | 15 November 1958 | 2 months | Father died of angina pectoris while filming an action scene. |
Antwone Fisher American author and film director | 3 August 1959 | Eddie Elkins | 2 months | Father shot by a jealous lover. | |
John Clark Gable American Actor | 20 March 1961 | Clark Gable | 16 November 1960 | 4 months | Father died of cardiac arrest. |
Yves Amu Klein French artist | 6 August 1962 | Yves Klein | 6 June 1962 | 2 months | Father died of cardiac arrest. |
Sławomir Makaruk Polish traveler | 4 October 1963 | Sławomir Makaruk Polish aviator | 20 April 1963 | 5 months | Father died in an aviation accident. |
Tariq Al-Ali Kuwaiti actor | 18 January 1966 | His father | |||
Rory Kennedy American documentary film maker | 12 December 1968 | Robert F. Kennedy | 6 June 1968 | 6 months | Father assassinated while campaigning for election. |
Brandon Teena Hate crime murder victim | 12 December 1972 | Patrick Brandon | 7 April 1972 | 8 months | Father died in an automobile accident. |
Philippe Cousteau Jr. Environmental advocate | 20 January 1980 | Philippe Cousteau | 28 June 1979 | 6 months | Father died in an aviation accident. |
Diana Yukawa Japanese-British violinist and composer | 16 September 1985 | Akihisa Yukawa | 12 August 1985 | 1 month | Father died in the Japan Airlines Flight 123 crash. |
Natashenka Ignatenko Chernobyl disaster victim | 1986 | Vasily Ignatenko | 13 May 1986 | A few months | Father died of acute radiation syndrome contracted while putting out the fire in the fourth reactor. Natashenka lived for four hours before dying of radiation-induced congenital heart disease and cirrhosis.[21] |
Gia Coppola American film director and actress | 1 January 1987 | Gian-Carlo Coppola | 26 May 1986 | 7 months | Father died in a speedboat accident. |
Didier Pironi and Gilles Pironi Formula One engineer | 1987-1988 | Didier Pironi Formula One racing driver | 23 August 1987 | Father killed in a powerboat racing accident. | |
Ane Muguruza Basque nationalist politician | 1989–1990 | Josu Muguruza | 20 November 1989 | Father assassinated by Bases Autónomas. | |
Tuki Brando Fashion model | 26 June 1990 | Dag Drollet | 16 May 1990 | 1 month | Father shot by his uncle, Christian Brando. |
Daijah Nakia | 26 September 1995 | Eazy-E | 26 March 1995 | 6 months | Father died from HIV/AIDS complications. |
María Indiano Carrillo[22] | 22 October 2000[23] | Manuel Indiano Azaustre | 29 August 2000 | 2 months | Father assassinated by ETA. |
21st century
Name | Born | Late parent | Parent died | Gap | Comments |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Adam Pearl[24] | 2002 | Daniel Pearl | 1 February 2002 | 2 months | Father abducted by Al-Qaeda terrorists in Pakistan and beheaded. |
Aitor Antonio Puerta | 22 October 2007 | Antonio Puerta | 28 August 2007 | 2 months | Father died of cardiac arrest during a professional association football match, due to an at the time undiagnosed congenital condition. |
Iryana Leila Member of the Pahlavi Dynasty | 26 July 2011 | Ali-Reza Pahlavi | 4 January 2011 | 6 months | Father committed suicide. |
Tiago Alves Vieira | 19 July 2017 | Tiago da Rocha Vieira | 28 November 2016 | 8 months | Father died in the LaMia Flight 2933 crash. |
Gekyume Onfroy | 26 January 2019 | XXXTentacion | 18 June 2018 | 7 months | Shot in a robbery. |
Mythological characters born posthumously
The Bible's Old Testament mentions two named cases of posthumous children:
- Ashhur, youngest son of Hezron, born when his father had died when aged past 60 years. (1 Chronicles 2;21,24)
- Ichabod, who was born when his mother, who subsequently died, heard news that his father Phinehas had been killed at the Battle of Aphek and paternal grandfather Eli accidentally killed afterwards. (1 Samuel 4:19-22)
- Parikshit, the sole survivor of the Kuru dynasty in Mahabharata, was born after his father Abhimanyu was killed in the Kurukshetra war.
- The Greek god Asclepius is said to have been delivered by caesarean section after his mother was killed on Mount Olympus.[2]
Fictional characters born posthumously
- Macduff, a character in Shakespeare's Macbeth, revealed that he was not literally born, but removed from his [dead] mother, completing a plot twist.
- The Irish Republican song "The Broad Black Brimmer" was about a boy whose father died before he was born.
- The Charles Dickens character David Copperfield was a posthumous child, whose father had died six months before he was born.[25] Another Dickens character, Oliver Twist, was posthumous as his mother died while giving birth.
- On A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child, baby Jacob was born after his father Dan was killed by Freddy.
- In The Hunger Games series, Gale Hawthorne's sister Posy is born shortly after their father dies in a mine explosion, and Finnick Odair's son is born months after his death in battle.
- John Connor, a principal character in the Terminator franchise, and son of Sarah Connor and Kyle Reese (a time traveler from the future), was conceived shortly before his father was killed. As an adult, John was in fact responsible for selecting Reese (who was unaware of their relation) to go back in time.
- The Noughts and Crosses series character Callie-Rose Hadley is born after the execution of her father, Callum McGregor.
- In the British television soap opera Coronation Street, Liam Connor Jr. was born in July 2009; his father and namesake Liam Connor, was ordered murdered by Tony Gordon just a short time after Liam Jr.'s conception in October 2008.
- The Stephen King novel Carrie tells briefly of the parents of the titular character, Margaret and Ralph White. Ralph, a construction worker, had impregnated Margaret, only to be killed in a construction accident shortly before the birth of their daughter.
- In Berserk, main character Guts is found after having been birthed by a hanging corpse.
- Grey's Anatomy: Derek Shepherd dies in a car accident in Season 11, nine months before the birth of his daughter.
- Bahubali series: Mahendra Bahubali is born shortly after his father Amarendra Bahubali is killed.
- Star Wars Rebels: Kanan Jarrus dies sacrificing himself while rescuing his lover Hera Syndulla who is pregnant with their son, Jacen Syndulla.
- In A Song of Ice and Fire, Princess Daenerys Targaryen is born months after the death of her father, King Aerys II Targaryen.
References
- "Posthumous Child Law and Legal Definition". USLegal.
- Christine Quigley, The Corpse: A History, McFarland, 1996, ISBN 0-7864-0170-2, pages 180 to 181.
- Renee H. Sekino, Posthumous Conception: The Birth of a New Class Archived 15 July 2004 at the Wayback Machine, Boston University Journal of Sci. and Tech. Law, 2001.
- "Frozen in Time: Planning for the Posthumously Conceived Child". The National Law Review. Fairfield and Woods P.C. 9 July 2009. Retrieved 7 April 2012.
- "U.S. Department of State Foreign Affairs Manual Volume 8, 8 FAM 304.4 Posthumous Children". Retrieved 18 July 2018.
- "Report 49 (1986) — Artificial Conception: Human Artificial Insemination, 12. AIH and Posthumous Use of Semen". Law Reform Commission, New South Wales.
- "Posthumous fathers to be recognised". BBC News. 25 August 2000.
- Bowman, William Dodgson. The Story of Surnames. London, George Routledge & Sons, Ltd., 1932. No ISBN.
- Lurie S (2005). "The changing motives of cesarean section: from the ancient world to the twenty-first century". Archives of Gynecology and Obstetrics. 271 (4): 281–285. doi:10.1007/s00404-005-0724-4. PMID 15856269.
- Franco Silva, A. (2009) "Las mujeres de Juan Pacheco y su parentela." Historia, Instituciones, Documentos. Vol. 36, pgs. 161-182
- The Peerage. Retrieved 14 March 2014
- leighrayment, The Baronetage. Retrieved 14 March 2014
- Wikisource. Retrieved 14 March 2014
- Bruce Robinson, They All Love Jack: Busting the Ripper, 2015, p. 487
- John S. Wilson (21 April 1984). "Mabel Mercer, Phraser of Songs, Dies". The New York Times. Retrieved 13 July 2015.
- Australian Dictionary of Biography. Retrieved 29 October 2017
- Corpo de Itamar Franco chega a Juiz de Fora (MG), onde será velado UOL (In Portuguese), 3 July 2011, accessed in 29 November 2016.
- "Lt. Hon. Henry Kerr Auchmuty Cecil". thepeerage.com. Retrieved 4 March 2014.
- Wilson, Julian (11 June 2013). "Sir Henry Cecil obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 5 July 2015.
- Wally Carr & Gaele Sobott, My Longest Round
- https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/ywyqzv/why-hundreds-of-thousands-of-women-ended-their-pregnancies-after-chernobyl
- https://www.elmundo.es/elmundo/2001/09/02/espana/999433934.html
- https://elpais.com/diario/2000/10/25/espana/972424808_850215.html
- https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/features/mariane-pearl-al-qaida-killed-my-husband-not-my-hope-8624516.html
- "David Copperfield". Blundeston. Retrieved 5 July 2015.
External links
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Wikisource has the text of the 1905 New International Encyclopedia article Posthumous Child. |
- Posthumous Child (i.e., Born After Father's Death), Adoption.com