Under ancient Scotish law, if Robert had owned land, this person would also be the owner of that land (the law did not provide for someone to will his land to anyone he pleased; it always went undivided to a family member defined by law).

Fathers try to name their sons according to the name they will eventually have the right to use, but since you can't predict when people will die and when and if they will have sons, some people end up with the name Robert Henderson without the right (these are called pretenders), while others are given a different name but are the rightful owners of the name.

Note that the actual family name is Robert Henderson with no middle name. A naming crisis happened in 1900 where there was doubt as to who would produce the heir, and the resulting compromise was a line of Robert Hendersons with middle names. These Roberts did ultimately inherit the name, though not right away.

In some systems, Robert Henderson the Nth is the Nth person to both use and have the right to the name. In others, he is simply the Nth to have the right to the name, whether or not he was named something else at birth. I have used the latter system in numbering the Roberts, since so few people were actually named Robert Henderson.

1. Robert Henderson (1801-1849) (Robert Henderson I, ->1849)
2. Robert Henderson (1834-1916) (Robert Henderson II, 1849-1916)
3. James Robertson Henderson (1871-1963) (Robert Henderson III, 1916-1963)
4. Robert Henderson (1906-1998) (Robert Henderson IV, 1963-1998)
5. Robert Morgan Henderson (1936-) (Robert Henderson V, 1998-)

And the following is the line of succession to be Robert Henderson VI:

1. Robert Kenneth Henderson (1962-)
2. Bryan Douglas Henderson (1963-)
3. Harold Alexander Henderson (1948-)
4. Samuel James Henderson (1978-)
5. Richard Douglas Henderson (1955-)