MM,
I appreciate you letting everyone know that I was gone and not just ignoring the post. Unfortunately between the trip and the weekend (you know I don't check in often on the weekend) and Lindsay, I have MUCH better things to do.
frontal lobe,
I have missed so very much. I am sorry that I have not been fortunate enought to check out the forum earlier. Also since are familiar with my posts you are aware that often I can be neither concise nor clear.
Addressing your topic, I have been asked this question my entire life. Not only am I the third W. T. Thorn, but I am also the last male Thorn in my direct family. My family takes great pride in our heritage. Just yesterday my father was explaining to my sister the historical difference between 'Thorn' and 'Thorne'.
I would like to explain a little about why I choose to go by William T. Thorn, III. Calling myself 'William' has been a recent switch for me. I was raised as 'Bill' (as are most Williams). From about the age of 10 on this caused great confusion as I lived with a father whom also went by 'Bill'. Even worse was the fact that I never particularly liked Bill and really hated the additional 'y' that was tacked on when playing sports and the like. Hence the switch to 'William'. This has caused additional confusion because family and long time friends still use 'Bill'. Old habits are in fact hard to break. I started using the 'III' designation on virtually all official correspondance. This was driven primarily by mail. My father is an accountant that NEVER pays his bills on time. However, when one is pulling down as much as he is that does not seriously affect one's credit. I realized that my bills were often going unpayed simply because they were piled among with his. To this day, my credit rating is not as good as it should be and that is the fault of my name and my parents. In fact, many times although the 'III' designation is specified it gets dropped in processing and billing arrives to 'William T. Thorn'. Oftentimes I am accused of being pretentious because I use the 'III' designation. That is not the case at all. I would much rather have an original name. But at the same time, I am not William T. Thorn... that was my grandfather.
Now on to answer your question. I have a definite I don't know for you. Beyond the question at hand, I do not intend on having children anywhere in the near future. I am getting married this September and am much too selfish when it comes to the attention of Lindsay to share her with children. Also, I do not consider my life to be ready for children. I would need much more financial stability, knowledge and patience to be the type of father I would want to be. I strongly believe that one should not have children if one cannot provide a good family for them. Traditionally Lindsay and I are not huge fans of children either. We enjoy them for brief periods of time, but in most situations would be happier with just a dog 
That established, assuming I were to be blessed with a son, I would most likely continue with the theme... but would not allow my son to go by the same name. This would be just for my family. They dearly want the Thorn and Templeton names to continue. I have not determined an acceptable way of doing this though. My grandfather always went by 'Tempy' which was shortened from our middle name 'Templeton' which was his Mother's maiden name. In a day where face to face communication is rare, having the same name causes too much confusion in my opinion. To this day, I still get phone calls for my father. I would hope this would not be the case for my son.
As batboy says... "Is that clear as mud?",
William T. Thorn, III
