I think it possible it was done to honor the father. There was a naming custom used for centuries in which a child born posthumously (i.e. its father died before it was born) was given the name of its same sex parent. Likewise, a child whose mother died shortly after its birth was also given the name of its same sex parent. Unless, of course, there already was a child of that name in the family, in which case some other name honoring the deceased was used.