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Worf's son is known as Alexander Rozhenko. There are some aspects about that name that I can't fully understand, and I'm hoping for an in-universe explanation. Where did this name come from?

K'Ehleyr

His mother, K'Ehleyr, didn't tell Worf about her new-born son (as implied by TNG 4x07 "Reunion"), so I guess Alexander wasn't officially registered as Worf's son. In that period, before K'Ehleyr informed Worf, he can't have had the last name of Rozhenko - that wouldn't make sense.

Worf

After the events that happened in "Reunion", Alexander was now officially acknowledged as Worf's son, which might have led to a change of his name.

But would Worf have chosen to follow a Human naming pattern for his son instead of a Klingon pattern like "Alexander, son of Worf"? My feeling is that Worf would have preferred the Klingon way for his son.

The Rozhenkos

I don't think the Rozhenko couple adopted Alexander, thus giving him their last name. He's always referred to as Worf's son, and Worf's adoptive parents just took care of him for some time.

Did I miss something? I'm not only interested in citations of official sources, but also plausible interpretations.

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    Worf is their adopted son. His son is the son of their adopted son, hence Alexander takes his father's surname even if the father doesn't usually use it.
    – Valorum
    Commented Feb 22, 2018 at 19:26

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We don't know enough about Worf's childhood to know for sure what he was called. He may have actually been Worf Rozhenko, legally speaking.

That said, we do know that his adoptive parents tried very hard to raise him in the Klingon ways. They may have explicitly made sure Worf, son of Mogh was his official name.

Now, by the time his parents were raising Alexander for him, Worf himself may have wanted Alexander to grow up with more of a human background than a Klingon one. Mogh was dishonored, so being part of that clan would not serve him well in the Klingon empire. And, of course, Alexander was one-quarter human. As I recall, Alexander didn't learn much about the Klingon ways until he was living with his father.

If he was being raised as a human when he went to live with the Rozhenkos, then being named Alexander Rozhenko makes perfectly good sense.

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  • You could make the argument that Alexander didn't learn much about the Klingon ways until he enlisted onto Martok's warship.
    – Ellesedil
    Commented Feb 22, 2018 at 22:29
  • I think that's the best explanation we can get. Worf wouldn't have named his son after a "dishonored" Klingon - he also accepted his brother's naming as Kurn, son of Lorgh.
    – Ralf Kleberhoff
    Commented Feb 23, 2018 at 15:37
  • In one of the novels - I believe it's the imaginatively-named Worf's First Adventure - there's a scene where a Starfleet Academy instructor refers to him as "Mr. Rozhenko", suggesting that Worf did in fact enroll as Worf Rozhenko. Referring to him as "Mr. Worf" is said to be a Klingon custom (logical, since they don't have last names as such).
    – Cadence
    Commented May 9, 2018 at 23:05

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