Julian Lennon has been in the news over the last few weeks on account of his new children’s book about the environment. Did you know that while Paul McCartney and John Lennon had a healthy rivalry in which they at times tried to highlight their differences, both Beatles named their sons after themselves? And John Lennon did so twice! Even Julian Lennon was named after his Beatle father.

As you know, Julian Lennon has been widely covered in the media in the last couple of weeks about Touch the Earth, his children’s book on the environment. Among the extensive media coverage has been a syndicated Associated Press article “Julian Lennon Pays Tribute to Mother with Children’s Book on the Environment” and an appearance on NBC’s Today show.

Julian Lennon, John’s son from his first marriage to the former Cynthia Powell, was born April 8, 1963. However, his real name is John Charles Julian Lennon and was called “Julian” to both differentiate from his father as well as to honor his maternal grandmother, John’s late mother Julia.

John’s second son, Sean Lennon, with Yoko Ono, received the name “Sean” because it was the Irish Gaelic version of “John”. Sean was born on October 9, 1975, which was John’s thirty-fifth birthday. At that point in the ex-Beatle’s life he was obsessed with his Irish heritage (his father, Alfred Lennon, was totally of Irish descent). He would refer to himself as “Irish”, rather than British or Welsh (his mother’s family, the Stanley’s, were of Welsh origin). During that period, John and Yoko took part in IRA marches in Manhattan and John designated the royalties of his song “The Luck of the Irish” to Irish Northern Aid, an organization which gave economic assistance to the families of imprisoned IRA people.

Paul McCartney named his only son after himself. James Paul McCartney, the future Beatle, was always referred to as “Paul” to differentiate from his father James McCartney, a Liverpool cotton salesman. The ex-Beatle gave the name “James” to his only son, James Louis McCartney, known as “Jimmy”, who was born September 12, 1977. Paul’s father, James “Jim” McCartney, came from a long line of generations named “James McCartney”.

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