Posthumous birth

Not to be confused with Coffin birth.

A posthumous birth is a birth of a child after the death of a biological parent. 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.

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, 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. 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.

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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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.

Notable people born posthumously

Name	Born	Late parent	Parent died	Gap	Comments
Alexander IV of Macedon	August 323 BC	Alexander III (the Great) of Macedon	11 June 323 BC	2 months
Shapur II 10th king of the Sasanian Empire (309-379)	309	Hormizd II 8th king (302-309)	309		Shapur is believed to be the only monarch in history who was crowned in utero
Muhammad Prophet of Islam	c. 570	Abdullah ibn Abdul-Muttalib	January 571	6 months
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	?	Born "shortly after" his father's death
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
Theobald I King of Navarre	30 May 1201	Theobald III, Count of Champagne	24 May 1201	6 days
St Raymond Nonnatus Catalan religious	1204	His mother	1204	-	Believed to have been delivered from his mother's womb after she died during childbirth.
Przemysł II King of Poland	14 October 1257	Przemysł I of Greater Poland	4 June 1257	4 months
John I "The Posthumous" King of France	15 November 1316	King Louis X of France	5 June 1316	5 months	He lived for only six days, but was a king for his entire short life.
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
Pope Clement VII	26 May 1478	Giuliano de' Medici	26 April 1478	1 month	Giuliano was assassinated in the Pazzi Conspiracy
Alexander Stewart Duke of Ross	30 April 1514	King James IV of Scotland	9 September 1513	7 months	His father King 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	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		April 1572	2 months
Friedrich Wilhelm II Duke of Saxe-Altenburg	12 February 1603	Friedrich Wilhelm I, Duke of Saxe-Weimar	7 July 1602	7 months
St Joseph of Cupertino Italian mystic	17 June 1603	Felice Desa	?	?
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
Sir Isaac Newton English scientist, mathematician	4 January 1643	Isaac Newton, Sr.	?	3 months
William III King of England and Ireland	14 November 1650	William II, Prince of Orange	6 November 1650	8 days	He was born Prince of Orange; aka William II of Scotland
Adolphus Frederick II Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz	19 October 1658	Adolf Frederick I, Duke of Mecklenburg	27 February 1658	3 months
Jonathan Swift Irish writer (Gulliver's Travels)	30 November 1667	Jonathan Swift, Sr	?	7 months
William August Duke of Saxe-Eisenach	30 November 1668	Adolf William, Duke of Saxe-Eisenach	21 November 1668	9 days
Edward Ward, 9th Baron Dudley	16 June 1704	Edward Ward, 8th Baron Dudley	28 March 1704	10 weeks
Georg Wilhelm Richmann German physicist	22 July 1711
William IV Prince of Orange	1 September 1711	John William Friso, Prince of Orange	14 July 1711	6 weeks
Robert Petre, 8th Baron Petre British peer and horticulturist	3 June 1713	Robert Petre, 7th Baron Petre	22 March 1713	10 weeks
John Morton U.S. politician	1725	John Morton, Sr.	1725
Sir Brook Bridges, 3rd Baronet	17 September 1733	Sir Brook Bridges, 2nd Bt	23 May 1733	4 months
Caroline Matilda Queen Consort of King Christian VII 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	15 weeks
Elizabeth Simcoe British artist, diarist in colonial Canada	22 September 1762	Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Gwillim	?	?
Benedict Joseph Flaget U.S. bishop	7 November 1763				[1]
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 Native American leader, Shawnee Prophet	1775	Pukeesheno	?	?
Arthur MacArthur Sr. Scottish born lawyer, Governor of Wisconsin	26 January 1815		19 January 1815	7 days	Paternal grandfather of General Douglas MacArthur
Henri, Count of Chambord French prince and pretender to the throne	29 September 1820	Charles Ferdinand, duc de Berry	14 February 1820	7 months
Rutherford B. Hayes 19th President of the United States 1877-81	4 October 1822	Rutherford Hayes Jr	20 July 1822	10 weeks
Jemima Blackburn Scottish painter	1 May 1823	James Wedderburn	late 1822	c. 6 months
Anna Leonowens British teacher and co-subject of The King and I	5 November 1831	Thomas Edwards		3 months
David Hyrum Smith	7 November 1844	Joseph Smith Founder of Mormonism and the Latter Day Saint movement	27 June 1844	5 months	Death of Joseph Smith
Horace Tabberer Brown British chemist	1848
Samuel Alexander Australian-born philosopher	1859				Born shortly after his father's death.
George Washington Carver U.S. botanical researcher and educator	c. 1864				His father was killed
Harry "The Breaker" Morant Australian soldier and folk hero	9 December 1864	Edwin Murrant	August 1864	4 months	Morant was born Edwin Henry Murrant
Frank Anstey Australian politician	18 August 1865	Samuel Anstey	?	5 months
George Washington Thomas Lambert Russian-born Australian artist, father of Constant Lambert	13 September 1873	George Washington Lambert	25 July 1873	7 weeks	His father was an American who died in London
Carl Adolph Schuricht German conductor	3 July 1880	Carl Conrad Schuricht	?	3 weeks	His father drowned in the Baltic Sea while trying to save a friend in distress
Charles Edward, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha	19 July 1884	Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany	28 March 1884	4 months
Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz U.S. admiral	24 February 1885	Chester Bernard Nimitz	14 August 1884	6 months
Clara Sipprell Canadian photographer	31 October 1885
Alfonso XIII King of Spain	17 May 1886	King Alfonso XII	25 November 1885	6 months
Mabel Mercer UK/US jazz singer	3 Feb 1900	-	?	?
Stanley Kunitz Lithuanian-U.S. poet	29 July 1905		June 1905	6 weeks	His father committed suicide by ingesting carbolic acid in a public park, after going bankrupt
Johan Kjær Hansen Executed Danish resistance fighter	7 April 1907	Hans Christian Johan Andreas Hansen	13 December 1906	4 months	His father died aged 34 near the methodist church in Hjørring
Xiao Qian Chinese essayist	27 January 1910
John Jacob Astor VI	14 August 1912	John Jacob Astor IV	15 April 1912	4 months	His father drowned in the sinking of the RMS Titanic
Red Skelton U.S. actor and comedian	18 July 1913				Born shortly after the death of his father
Georg Brockhoff Quistgaard Executed Danish resistance fighter	19 February 1915	Georg Brockhoff Quistgaard	18 December 1914	2 months	His namesake father died in Rigshospitalet aged 40
Alfred Shaughnessy English writer and television producer	19 May 1916	Alfred Shaughnessy		2 months	His namesake father was killed in the First World War
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn Russian novelist	11 December 1918	Isaakiy Semyonovich Solzhenitsyn	15 June 1918	6 months	His father was killed in a hunting accident shortly after his wife's pregnancy was confirmed
John Mitchum US actor	6 September 1919	James Mitchum	February 1919	7 months	His father was killed in a railyard accident
Alexandra of Yugoslavia Queen Consort of King Peter II of Yugoslavia	25 March 1921	Alexander King of Greece	25 October 1920	5 months	Alexander died from the effects of a monkey bite
Elisabeth of Austria Archduchess of Austria	31 May 1922	Charles I of Austria	1 April 1922	2 months	Charles had earlier been deposed but had never formally abdicated
Stephen Wurm Hungarian-Australian linguist	19 August 1922	Adolphe Wurm
Anthony Earnshaw English anarchist	9 October 1924
Felipe Rodríguez Puerto Rican singer	8 May 1926
Earl Holliman U.S. actor	11 September 1928			6 months
Itamar Franco 33rd President of Brazil	28 June 1930	Augusto César Stiebler Franco	April 1930	2 months	Itamar was born at sea prematurely in a cabotage ship two months after his father died of malaria.
Thomas Sowell U.S. economist	30 June 1930
Brian Sewell* British art critic	15 July 1931	Peter Warlock* (Philip Heseltine)	17 December 1930	7 months	Warlock died either accidentally or by suicide (the inquest delivered an open finding); * Sewell has only since 1986 claimed to be Warlock's son
Don Durant U.S. actor	20 November 1932			2 months	His father was killed in a truck accident
Margaret O'Brien U.S. actress	15 January 1937	Lawrence O'Brien	c. 1936
Ian Brady English mass murderer	2 January 1938	unknown		3 months
Lee Harvey Oswald Assassin of U.S. President John F. Kennedy	18 October 1939	Robert Edward Lee Oswald	19 August 1939	2 months
Sir Henry Cecil British champion racehorse trainer	11 January 1943	Lt. Hon. Henry Kerr Auchmuty Cecil	30 Nov - 2 Dec 1942	6 weeks or 2 weeks	His father was killed on active service with the Parachute Regiment in North Africa
Sylvester McCoy Scottish actor (Doctor Who)	20 August 1943	Percy Kent-Smith	18 July 1943	1 month	His father was killed in World War II
Sir Ranulph Fiennes, 3rd Bt British explorer and adventurer	7 March 1944	Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Ranulph Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes, 2nd Bt	24 November 1943	3 months	His father was killed in action at the Battle of Monte Cassino, Italy
Bernard Collaery Australian lawyer and politician	12 October 1944			4 months	His father died on active service
Frederica von Stade U.S. operatic soprano	1 June 1945	Charles S. von Stade	10 April 1945	2 months	Her father was killed in Germany in World War II when his jeep ran over a land mine
Bill Clinton President of the United States 1993-2001	19 August 1946	William Jefferson Blythe Jr.	17 May 1946	3 months	His father drowned following a car accident
Peter Kocan Australian attempted assassin of Federal Opposition Leader Arthur Calwell in 1966; later a noted poet	4 May 1947			3 months	His father was killed in a road accident
Jett Williams U.S. singer	6 January 1953	Hank Williams	1 January 1953	5 days	Her father, also a singer, died of alcohol- and drug-fueled heart failure
Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum President of Dubai Civil Aviation Authority CEO and chairman of The Emirates Group Chairman of Dubai World	1 December 1958	Saeed bin Maktoum bin Hasher Al Maktoum Ruler of Dubai	1958	?
Tyrone Power Jr. U.S. actor	22 January 1959	Tyrone Power	15 November 1958	2 months	His father died of a heart attack while filming Solomon and Sheba on location in Madrid, Spain
Antwone Fisher U.S. author, screenwriter and film producer	3 August 1959	Eddie Elkins		2 months	He was born in prison; his father was shot by a jealous girlfriend 2 months earlier
Yves Amu Klein French artist	6 August 1962	Yves Klein	6 June 1962	2 months	His father died of a heart attack
Rory Kennedy U.S. documentary film maker	12 December 1968	Robert F. Kennedy	6 June 1968	6 months	Her father was assassinated during the 1968 Presidential election campaign
Brandon Teena Hate crime murder victim	12 December 1972	Patrick Brandon	7 April 1972	8 months	His father was killed in a car accident.
Diana Yukawa Japanese-British violinist and songwriter	16 September 1985	Akihisa Yukawa	12 August 1985	1 month	Her father was killed in the Japan Airlines Flight 123 crash
Gia Coppola American film director and actress	1 January 1987	Gian-Carlo Coppola	26 May 1986	7 months	Her father was killed in a boating accident
Tuki Brando Fashion model	26 June 1990	Dag Drollet	16 May 1990	1 month	His father was shot and killed by his uncle Christian Brando
Iryana Leila Princess of Iran	26 July 2011	Ali-Reza Pahlavi	4 January 2011	6 months	Her father committed suicide in Boston

Fictional people

Parikshit, the sole survivor of 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.

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.

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.

Grey's Anatomy: Derek Shepherd died in a car accident in Season 11 9 months before the birth of his daughter.

See also

• Coffin birth
• Maternal death
• Posthumous sperm retrieval

External links

• Posthumous Child (i.e., Born After Father's Death), Adoption.com