A father's posthumous children are those born after his death. The name Posthumous or Postumus was sometimes given to children born after the death of their father.
In many cultures, sovereigns are given new names honoring them after death. These names are known as posthumous names.
Posthumous honors are those bestowed after the death of the person honored. Military honors are sometimes given to persons who have died in combat. In many republics, effigies of heads of state may appear on currency only posthumously. Some awards, such as the Nobel Prize, are famously known for not being able to be awarded posthumously. The Darwin Awards are usually granted posthumously unless the receiver of the award rendered him or herself unable to reproduce.
The posthumous name is commonly used when naming most Chinese royalty, most Korean royalty, almost all Vietnamese royalty and all the emperors of Japan, except the four most recent emperors, Akihito, Hirohito (the Shōwa emperor), the Taishō emperor and the Meiji emperor.
Posthumous names in China and Vietnam were given to honor lifetime accomplishment: many people who were not related to the emperor have posthumous names.
The use of posthumous names was stopped in the Qin Dynasty, because Qin Shi Huang proclaimed that it is disrespectful for the descendants, or "later emperors" (嗣皇帝) to judge their elders, or the "prior emperors" (先帝).
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