He'd named the first clones after Daniel. They were clones after all, mere copies of the boy, and nothing more. They didn't deserve their own names.
The first Daniel couldn't hold a solid form. He'd turn to a green puddle at the slightest provocation and even as a ghost he was barely half formed. No matter what Vlad did the clone couldn't achieve a full ghost or human form. Stabilizing the boy had proved impossible and after a few weeks the clone eventually melted. He'd felt nothing then. Daniel-1 was just a clone.
The last Daniel could speak. Or, more importantly, he could scream. Daniel-173 screamed whenever Vlad let him out of his tube. He would wobble around the lab like a newborn fawn and smile at up at Vlad and then he would scream. The sound sharp and piercing until Vlad had no choice but to shove Daniel-173 back into his tube. His wide eyes continued to watch Vlad from the interior of his personal confinement. It was unnerving.
Vlad let Daniel-173 out again the next week and waited until the boy stopped screaming so that he could once again try to stabilize the clone. But the screaming never stopped. Between the crushing howls that Daniel-173 gave Vlad was able to piece together the boy's words. He claimed he was in pain but that couldn't be true. Vlad hadn't given him nerve endings just yet. He shouldn't be able to feel anything.
Still the boy screamed and screamed until Vlad had to act. He stepped forward, grabbing the screeching boy- clone, and shoved him- it down onto the metal examination table. The screams continued while he searched his lab. He knew he left the Plasmius Maximus somewhere. Finally he found it and walked back to 173. It looked up at him with wet eyes and whispered softly. Vlad's face hardened and he strapped the modified belt around 173's chest. The belt flickered to life and there was a brief moment of silence before 173 was screaming again. He watched as 173 reverted back to pure ectoplasm before his eyes. It still screamed. Until the very last second it screamed for mercy. Its words followed Vlad out of his lab, badgering at his mind every second until he'd drowned the voice in whiskey.
"Dad please..."
He never named the clones Daniel after that.