not entirely sure. they were thus named when given to us in recipe format from a friend of the wife's. they consist of at least hash brown potatoes, cheddar cheese, sour cream, cream cheese and other ingredients perhaps. i think they are called funeral potatoes because someone always brought them to a funeral in this recipe's originator's history.
for a real recipe, should probably look up "cheesey potatoes" or something. funeral potatoes might not yield a result...though now i'm too tempted not to test that theory.